* U.S. stocks rise in thin post-holiday trade
* Oil gains after No. 5 exporter UAE says to cut supplies
* Japan's Nikkei at 6-week closing high
By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) - U.S. and Japanese stock prices
gained in thin post-Christmas on Friday, as higher oil prices
lifted energy stocks and auto shares rose as investors picked
through the carnage amid the final days of a year many would
like to forget.
Crude oil prices rose as No. 5 oil exporter United Arab
Emirates cut production.
News that the financing arm of General Motors Corp. arm
qualified for government funds boosted the shares of GM and
automakers around the world.
Japanese shares closed at a six-week high, aided by a
second day of gains for Toyota Motor Corp.
A dismal reading on the U.S. holiday shopping season,
however, did not bode well for investors going forward.
"Everyone is hoping for a Santa Claus rally but you look at
the underlying data and it's still weak," said Chip Hanlon,
president of Delta Global Advisors, Inc. in Huntington Beach,
California.
"Retailers are going to be horrendous and news from around
the globe continues to weaken. This recession is global and
it's deep and, more importantly, it's probably still
deepening."
The U.S. dollar climbed versus a basket of currencies.
European stock and debt markets remained closed on Friday.
GM <GM.N> shares jumped 12.6 percent to $3.66 on
Wednesday's decision by the the U.S. Federal Reserve to
recognize the carmaker's financing arm, GMAC, as a bank holding
company. GMAC can now access government lending programs.
"Things are still pretty ugly out there (in terms of sales)
but in terms of GM possibly filing for bankruptcy, in my mind
that's not going to happen. The reason I'm saying this is what
they (the government) are doing with GMAC right now." said
Erich Merkle, an auto analyst at consultant Crowe Horwath in
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Last week the White House threw U.S. automakers a $17.4
billion lifeline of emergency loans in an attempt to stave off
a collapse that could jeopardize hundreds of thousands of
jobs.
By the end of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones industrial average
<> rose 47.07 points, or 0.56 percent, to 8,515.55. The
Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 4.65 points, or 0.54
percent, to 872.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> climbed
5.34 points, or 0.35 percent, to 1,530.24.
Energy-related shares gained on the higher oil prices.
Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> rose 1.9 percent to $77.19.
U.S. financial shares were the laggards. The most actively
traded U.S. share, Citigroup <C.N>, fell 0.7 percent to $6.73.
JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N> lost 0.2 percent to $29.80.
Shares of Apple <AAPL.O> rose 0.9 percent to $85.81 after
top global retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> will begin
selling some models of Apple's popular iPhone on Sunday.
The S&P 500 stock index is down over 40 percent in 2008,
its second worst performance on record after a 47.1 percent
drop in 1931.
JAPAN GAINS AMID GLOOM
Japanese share prices rose to a six-week high. The
benchmark Nikkei 225 index <> gained 140.02 points or 1.63
percent to close at 8,739.52.
A second day of gains for battered carmaker Toyota <7203.T>
helped lead the way, rising 1.93 percent to 2900 yen. Its
shares hover above 5-1/2 year lows.
Year-end portfolio window dressing overcame a record 8.1
percent plunge in November industrial production. Core
inflation fell faster than forecast, putting the country on
course for its second spell of deflation this decade.
The data on deflation plus month-end buying from pension
funds drove government bonds higher and pushed the 20-year
yield to a five-year low of 1.755 percent, down 6.5 basis
points <JP20YTN=RR>.
"The Japanese economy is unlikely to bottom out until
October-December next year as output is expected to remain very
weak until then," said Naoki Iizuka, senior economist at Mizuho
Securities.
Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano told Reuters in an
interview that Tokyo may take more fiscal spending measures if
economic conditions worsen further, on top of a stimulus
package totaling 75 trillion yen ($829 billion).
Germany said it would likely limit to 25 billion euros
($34.97 billion) a second package of economic stimulus
measures, with a focus on investment projects and some
consumption incentives, government sources told Reuters.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained on a safe-haven
bid, rising 15/32 of a point in price, pushing the yield down
to 2.1367 percent <US10YT=RR>.
The U.S. dollar rose 0.33 percent to 80.982 <.DXY> against
a basket of major trading-partner currencies. The greenback
rose 0.33 percent to 90.69 against the yen <JPY=>. However, the
euro rose 0.29 percent to $1.4053 <EUR=>.
Crude oil prices rose $2.36, or 6.68 percent, to settle at
$37.71 a barrel <CLc1>. The UAE's production curbs comply with
last week's output cut by OPEC of 2.2 million barrels per day,
the cartel's biggest ever.
Gold climbed $23.45 an ounce or 2.78 percent to $867.45
<XAU=>.
(Additional reporting by Eric Burroughs in Hong Kong; Aiko
Hayashi and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Soyoung Kim in Detroit;
Walden Siew, Chris Reese, Vivianne Rodriques and Leah Schnurr
in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
