New York - US stocks finished the year with gains on Wednesday as weekly unemployment figures dropped, but Wall Street still ended the year with its steepest slide since the Great Depression.

Unemployment claims fell by 94,000 this week, the lowest level in two months, Bloomberg financial news reported.

After opening the day positively, the 30-share index Sensex continued its positive run on the back of heavy buying activity witnessed in frontline stocks.

Metals, consumer goods and realty stocks gained ground.

All sectoral indices went up, while BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 1.61% and 1.66% respectively.

Today, the BSE Sensex started the day at 9,806.64, up 90.48 points, as against its previous closure in which it gained 182.64 points at 9716.16.

Tokyo  - Japan'

New York  - US stocks fell Monday, as a volatile year for the markets draws to a close, amid concerns over bleak corporate news and tensions in the Middle East and South Asia.

A 17.4-billion-dollar deal between Kuwait's state-run Petrochemical Industries Co and Dow Chemical Co, the largest US chemical maker, fell through. The joint venture would have enabled Dow to acquire rival Rohm & Haas, the world's largest maker of acrylic paint ingredients.

Indian equities belled the day (Monday, Dec 29) on a weak note because of negative global cues.

Select FMCG, pharma, metal and oil stocks went up, while realty stocks slipped on selling pressure.

There were huge losses for a variety of stocks from auto, capital goods, information technology, power and banking sectors as well.

BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap stocks remain quite subdued this morning.

At 10:26 a.m., the BSE Sensex, which opened with a small negative gap at 9318.86, stood at 9204.97, down 123.95 points.

Tokyo - Japan's markets shed value Monday mo