Dow Jones ends up for 7th consecutive session

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up for a seventh-consecutive session, shrugged off China's latest interest rate hike. China raised one-year lending and deposit rates by 25 bps each. Alert: Chinese markets open today after a week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72 points at 12,233. The Nasdaq Composite was up 13 points at 2,797 and the S&P 500 Index was up 5.5 points at 1,324. US Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary was up 1.2%, Financials went up 0.7%, Industrials gained 0.7% NYSE total volume was at 885 million, lowest for 2011 and the fifth straight session where volumes below 1 billion shares. European markets ended higher. CAC was up 0.43%, DAX up 0.54% and FTSE up 0.67%. CBOE VIX was down 2.9% at 15.81. Asian markets opened marginally lower; Kospi, Taiwan, Shanghai and Strait Times were down 0.5% each. However, Hang Seng gained 0.2%. SGX Nifty was down 0.4%. Currencies Dollar was down 16 bps versus Euro at 1.3636 Yen fell 5 bps versus USD at 82.32 Commodities March crude oil contract was down 0.6% at USD 86.94/barrel March natural gas contract fell 1.6% at USD 4.04 per MMBtu, fourth consecutive decline March silver went up 3.1% at USD 30.27/ounce, best levels in over a month April gold contract gained 1.2% at USD 1364.1/ounce, best levels in over two weeks May Sugar was down 4.1%. Data to watch Weekly mortgage applications, oil inventories, Bernanke testifies before US House, Fannie/Freddie reform hearing, Moody