"As soon as Fed's rate hike was out of the way, we saw a lot of investors getting out of their long dollar positions", said Sireen Harajli at Mizuho Corporate Bank in NY. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index climbed 1 percent to close at 22,040.59 while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3 percent to 1,999.22. The S&P 500 is on track for its worst final month in 13 years and the first annual decline since 2008. ENERGY PRICES: Oil prices rose for a third day, bouncing back from 11-year lows hit earlier in the week, which helped lift the battered energy sector. Oil increased 1 per cent to $36 a barrel in NY. KEEPING SCORE: European stocks jumped on their last full day of trading before Christmas - on Thursday, many markets only open for half the trading session while Germany's DAX won't open at all. Energy stocks were among the bigger gainers Tuesday, with the energy sector of the S&P 500 index up 1.5 percent. ENERGY: The price of oil was once again having an outsize impact on the movement of the stock market. The price of crude oil rose 4 percent to 37 dollars a barrel in NY. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1 percent to 6,245.61 while France's CAC40 fell 0.3 percent to 4,658.58. He noted that benchmark USA crude has now risen 6.5 percent from its lowest point Tuesday. FEELING THE EFFECT: "The market lately has been ruled pretty clearly by oil in particular, and more broadly, commodity prices". "As (oil) has weakened and stayed weak, it has become less about oil and more about an indication of generalised global weakness or not", said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis. The S&P 500 index showed three new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and 35 new lows. Low oil prices hurt energy company profits and can signal weaker demand in the economy. Nike (NKE.N) pared early gains and was down 2.7 percent at $128.30. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.23 percent from 2.19 percent the day before. USA existing home sales for November are likely to remain steady, after falling 3.4 percent in October. The dollar edged up about 0.1 percent to 121.21 yen JPY=EBS , while the euro was almost flat from late North American levels at $1.0911. Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as regional gains were tempered by losses in mainland China and Japan before the holiday period. In metals trading, gold fell $6.50 to $1,074.10 a troy ounce, silver was unchanged at $14.31 an ounce and copper fell 3 cents to $2.109 a pound. Tri-County Sun Times

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