Dow within reach of record close

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NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes rose Wednesday pushing the Dow Jones industrial average within reach of its October 2007 record close of 14,164.63 points.

The blue chip index closed Wednesday at 14,075.37 points, up 1.26 percent on a gain of 175.24 points. It was the second consecutive day of solid gains.

Investors were buoyed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's defense Tuesday of the central bank's monetary policies and a bond auction in Italy that found strong demand.

By close of trading Wednesday, the Standard and Poor's 500 added 19.05 points, or 1.27 percent, to 1,515.99. The Nasdaq composite added 32.61 points, or 1.04 percent, to 3,162.26.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,311 stocks advanced and 731 declined on a volume of 3.5 billion shares traded.

Investors shrugged off a U.S. Commerce Department report that said new durable goods orders declined 5.2 percent in January, a sharper drop than expected.

The 10-year U.S. treasury fell 5/32 to yield 1.904 percent.

Against the dollar the euro rose to $1.3137 from Tuesday's $1.3061. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 92.18 yen from 91.98 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.27 percent, 144.84 points, to 11,253.97.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 0.88 percent, 55.44 points, to 6,325.88.