Falling oil prices rally markets

Oil prices fell under the $120 a barrel Friday, rallying stocks that had taken a battering earlier in the week from economic worries sparked by higher-than-expected losses at Freddie Mac.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rose 76.33 points during the day, while the Dow Jones industrial average climbed by around 200 points in trading, recovering from a 225 point drop the day before. The Nasdaq composite index was also up, recording a rise of 1.85 percent.

Investors remained buoyant despite Freddie Mac''s sister company, Fannie Mae, posting losses of $2.3 billion – or $2.54 a share – figures three times worse than analysts'' predictions. In recent trading, the firm''s shares were down 7.94 per cent on the NYSE after being the most active stock of the day.

Other highly active shares included Washington Mutual and Citigroup, which had competed over 41 million transactions for a share price increase of 3.2 percent.

Elsewhere, the exchange''s top performers included concert search engine Live Nation – up 26.78 percent in recent trading – engine manufacturer China Yuchai Machinery and payment and financial services firm Moneygram International, which advanced 22.86 percent.