U.S. stocks extend gains amid abating trade worries

NEW YORK, March 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher around midday on Tuesday as concerns over global trade tensions continued to ease.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 204.96 points, or 0.85 percent, to 24,407.56. The S&P 500 increased 13.05 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,671.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.96 points, or 0.18 percent, to 7,233.50.

On Monday, the stocks had soared, with all three major indices witnessing their best percentage daily gains since 2015 as trade tensions between the United States and China appeared to ease.

During the weekend, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had a phone conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, urging concerted efforts to maintain the stability of China-U.S. trade ties.

Liu expressed the hope that the two sides will stay rational and work together to maintain the overall stability of their economic and trade relations.

After the conversation, Mnuchin said on Sunday that he was "cautiously hopeful" that an agreement can be reached with China.

Trade concerns appeared to abate even more after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comments Monday.

"There is no winner in a trade war," Li said, calling for a rational and earnest attitude when addressing the problem of China-U.S. trade imbalance.

Li urged the international community to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system with free trade as its cornerstone, and oppose protectionism and unilateralism.

U.S. stocks fell sharply toward the end of last week after President Donald Trump announced heavy tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China as well as harsher restrictions on Chinese investments.

On the economic front, U.S. home prices kept rising across the country in January, indicating steady growth of the housing sector.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 6.2-percent annual gain in January, down from 6.3 percent in the previous month. Enditem