US stocks rise as oil prices stabilise

US stocks rose as oil prices stabilised following a recent jump.

The escalating turmoil in Libya still left major indexes down about 2 per cent for the week.

Oil prices settled at 97.88 dollars, down from a high of 103 dollars on Thursday, but still up 13 per cent over the last week.

Oil prices have been rising, sending stocks lower, as concerns rose that violence would spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, affecting oil production for big OPEC producers such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Those concerns eased late on Thursday after the International Energy Agency said the impact was far less than analysts had estimated and that any shortfall could be easily made up by tapping oil reserves in other countries.

Boeing Co rose 2.2 per cent after the Air Force awarded the company a 35 billion dollar contract on Thursday, one of the largest ever made by the military, for nearly 200 airborne refuelling tankers.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc fell 2.8% after the entertainment company reported revenue and earnings that were far below what analysts were expecting. Poor box office results from the Will Ferrell movie Megamind were partly to blame.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.95, or 0.5 per cent, to close at 12,130.45. It was the first rise for the Dow after three days of losses.

The Standard&Poor's 500 index rose 13.78, or 1.1 per cent, to 1,319.88. The Nasdaq composite rose 43.15, or 1.6 per cent, to 2,781.05

All three indexes are still down for the week, largely a result of the fighting in Libya.