Mark Androvich 22:17 (BST)
25/04/2008

US stocks advanced for the second week in a row - the first back-to-back weekly gains since February - thanks to a rally from financial shares after a UBS AG report indicated that the worst is over for bank writedowns.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent on the week to 1,397.84. The Dow Jones closed the week up 0.3 per cent to 12,891.86. NASDAQ, meanwhile, was down 5.99 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,422.93.

In the games industry, Nintendo, Microsoft and Ubisoft all posted earnings this week.

Revenues in Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division were up 68 per cent. Nevertheless, the company's stock dropped 6.2 per cent in trading after reporting that Windows sales had slumped.

Ubisoft, meanwhile, reported that sales were up 43 per cent last year and forecast EUR 1 billion in sales during the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Nintendo reported USD 1 billion in hardware sales last year - while expecting to sell fewer DS units in 2008 and recognising that it was missing opportunities thanks to the shortage of Wii consoles in North America.

SCi, which was rumoured to be in new acquisition talks over the past few weeks, revealed that it had entered into an agreement with Warner Bros. which saw the media company doubling its shares in the publisher and taking over North American distribution. Investors appear to have reacted by selling off the stock, dropping its value significantly.

Selected stock movements in the past week (at time of writing):

Please note that stock prices on differing markets may be influenced by separate local events, and shouldn't necessarily be compared like for like. This list is not a ranking of total market valuation; selected stocks only. Prices given in local exchange currency, except Tokyo stocks, which are converted into USD.