NEW YORK — Stocks overcame an early slide Wednesday and closed higher as investors tried to keep a September rally alive.
Major indexes had opened lower after a poor reading on factory activity in New York but turned higher about midday after getting better news on U.S. industrial production. That report showed that the national industrial sector grew for the 12th time in 14 months.
Better news on manufacturing was the main trigger behind the rally that began in early September and has propelled stocks higher for nine of the past 11 days. The Dow Jones industrial average, which gained 46 points Wed nesday, is up 5.6 percent over that time.
Stocks rose sharply during the first half of the month, even though September is historically a weak period for the market. A strong manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management set off the rally two weeks ago.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.24, or 0.4 percent, to close at 10,572.73. It was the index’s highest close since Aug. 10. The Dow is still 5.6 percent below its 2010 high, reached April 26, and up 1.4 percent year-to-date following steep declines in May and June.
Broader indexes also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 3.97, or 0.4 percent, to 1,125.07, and the Nasdaq composite rose 11.55, or 0.5 percent, to 2,301.32.
European markets were mainly lower, but stocks in Japan surged 2.3 percent after the country’s government stepped in to weaken the yen.
The yen had been hitting 15-year highs against the dollar, which makes it harder for Japanese exporters to compete on global markets.
Japan sold an undisclosed amount of yen in foreign-exchange markets to weaken its currency, which was threatening to endanger manufacturers that export goods around the world, such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. The dollar rose 3 percent against the yen.
