LONDON, Jan 2: Global stocks skyrocketed on Friday in the first trading day of 2009 amid investor hopes for a brighter year ahead after a horrendous 2008 that hacked down stock markets around the world.

“Hope for much better returns in 2009 has permeated the marketplace,” said Patrick O’Hare, an analyst at Briefing.com.

“Unless there is a sea-change in sentiment over the course of the next two trading sessions, it looks as if we’ll be able to say there was indeed a Santa Claus rally.”

After New Year’s rallies in Europe and Asia, Wall Street followed suit with the Nasdaq soaring 2.08 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.70 per cent in early trading.

The broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index was also up 1.73 per cent.

“The mindset may be that the turmoil of 2008 is now behind us and that 2009, although not set to be great, needs to start with a bang,” said CMC Markets trader Jimmy Yates.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 index shot up 4.09 per cent, the Frankfurt Dax soared 3.39 per cent and the FTSE 100 in London rose 2.88 per cent.—AFP