US shares rally as Americans vote

Traders are looking forward to knowing who the next president will be

Shares in New York rallied on Tuesday as people in the US went to the polls for the presidential election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 305.5 points, or 3.3%, at 9,625.3 amid relatively light trading.

US shares took strength from gains in Asia and Europe amid hopes that a new president will take fresh action to solve the credit crisis.

The technology-based Nasdaq composite index rose 53.8 points, or 3.1%, to close at 1,780.1.

"It's not rooted in the expectation that one candidate will prevail over the other," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com, regarding the shares rally.

"Rather, it's rooted in the understanding that there will finally be clarity on the matter."

'Truly dismal'

The rises came despite figures from the Commerce Department showing an accelerating decline in manufacturing activity.

New orders received by US factories in September dropped 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted $432bn (£269bn), which was much worse than had been expected.

The fall in August was revised from 4% to 4.3%.

"The numbers are truly dismal," said Peter Kenny at Knight Equity Markets in New Jersey.

"Truly dismal, and yet not capable of quelling the excitement of knowing we will have a new president elected today."