NEW YORK — U.S. stocks climbed Friday despite the strongest earthquake on record to hit Japan as some companies benefited from expectations for increased demand from rebuilding efforts, while investors were also relieved that protests in Saudi Arabia were relatively orderly.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 59.79 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,044.40. Industrial giants 3M Co. and Caterpillar Inc. led the climb, with 3M gaining 1.8 percent and Caterpillar adding 1.7 percent, as investors bet that the companies might benefit from rebuilding efforts in Japan following the earthquake. Exxon Mobil Corp. was also strong, up 0.9 percent, while Alcoa Inc. added 1.5 percent and Chevron Corp. gained 0.9 percent.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 14.59 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,715.61, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 9.17 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,304.28, with its energy, materials and industrial sectors leading the ascent.
Still, the market posted a weekly drop, with the Dow falling 1.03 percent, the S&P 500 off 1.28 percent and the Nasdaq down 2.48 percent for the week. For all three measures, it marked the second weekly decline in the past three weeks.
The earthquake in Japan, one of the five biggest in history with a magnitude of 8.9, rocked the country’s eastern coast, triggering a massive tsunami that engulfed cars and buildings in its path in northern Japan. The natural disaster could derail the country’s nascent economic recovery and increase Japan’s already massive public debt, which is 200 percent of gross domestic product.
Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.7 percent. U.S.-listed shares of Japanese companies also fell, with American depositary shares of Honda Motor Co. slipping 2.4 percent while U.S. shares of Toyota Motor Co. declined 2.1 percent and U.S. shares of Sony Corp. shed 2.4 percent.
However, U.S. investors expected that the quake wouldn’t significantly hurt global economic growth. Rather, traders bet that the quake would actually drive increased demand for a host of economically sensitive companies when Japan starts to rebuild what was damaged by the quake.
