NEW YORK, Dec 15: Stocks struggled to close with modest gains on Friday at the end of a lackluster session as investors mulled the outlook for the US economy next year.

The Dow Jones industrials rose 44.70 points (0.46 per cent) to end at 9,811.15, and the Nasdaq composite added 6.66 points (0.34pc) to 1,953.17.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 index rose 3.69 points (0.33 per cent) to 1,123.07

Dealers said this week’s slew of high-profile corporate warnings rekindled fears that the upswing expected in the first six months of next year may not materialize.

The listless session also followed a six-week period of sizeable gains, spurring some investors to lock in their profits.

The recent pullback has gone a long way towards working off short-term excesses, said Alfred Goldman of AG Edwards. The resilient market action over the past three weeks has been very impressive, especially given the magnitude of the prior advance from the September lows. The pullback has run for a typical duration.

Ryan Beck and Co. director of trading Jay Susskind said Wall Street is currently torn by the economic debate and, as long as the answer is not found, indices are likely to remain in a range.

The coming end of the year is also making trading more illiquid, and Susskind expects Wall Street to be “choppy” until the end of the year.

The release of the November Consumer Price Index, which was, as expected, flat, did not have a strong effect on the equities market, which do not currently see inflation as a problem for monetary policy.

A smaller-than expected fall in industrial production in November was taken by bulls as a sign that the economy is completing its inventory correction process and that the US is on track for a rebound in the first half of next year.

Retailers closed the session mostly higher as the holiday season reached its peak, with Wal-Mart up 70 cents at 54.06 and JC Penney up 1.22 at 24.30.

KMart, down 27 cents at 5.76, was in focus as Moody’s downgraded the company’s debt to Ba2 from Baa3 just before the closing of the regular trading session.

Oracle, down 10 cents at 14.57, dominated the technology sector after the company released fiscal second-quarter earnings in line with analysts’ consensus.—AFP