World wide market, US should lead the mkt up to new year

Overseas, Japan\'s Nikkei stock average rose 1.57 percent. Hong Kong\'s Hang Seng index fell 2.75 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain\'s FTSE 100 was up 1.05 percent, Germany\'s DAX index was up 1.11 percent, and France\'s CAC-40 was up 0.48 percent.