March 16th, 2009 by InvestorPoint

A market rally Friday settled back into low gear, but managed to close the week on a positive note with four consecutive days of gains.

At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 53.92 points, or 0.75 percent, to 7,223.98. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.77 percent, 5.81 points, to 756.55. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.38 percent, 5.40 points, to 1,431.50.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange as 1,960 stocks advanced and 1,100 declined on a volume of 8 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 9/32 to yield 2.898 percent.

The euro fell to $1.2918, compared to Thursday’s $1.2927. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose to 98.03 yen, compared to Thursday’s 97.62 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average gained 371.03 points to 7,569.28, up 5.15 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 1.12 percent, 41.62 points, to 3,753.68.