Wall Street extends record streak

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WALL Street's blue chips set a fifth straight record high overnight amid renewed merger fever over US aluminum giant Alcoa's $US33 billion ($40.26 billion) hostile bid for Canadian rival Alcan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 48.35 points (0.36 per cent) to 13,312.97 at the closing bell, extending what analysts said was the best streak for the benchmark index in decades.

The Nasdaq composite failed to keep pace and lost 1.20 points (0.05 per cent) to 2570.95 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.83 points (0.25 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1509.45.

Merger fever was a factor again as Alcoa launched its bid for Canadian rival Alcan and British-based BAE Systems mounted a $US4.5 billion ($5.49 billion) takeover of Armor Holdings, which makes armoured vehicles and other equipment for the US military and law enforcement.

Some analysts said they were baffled by the Wall Street juggernaut: "What has many analysts ruffled is that this uptrend has beaten the odds and expectations," said Bernie Schaeffer at Schaeffer's Investors Service.

But Dick Green at Briefing.com said the latest merger developments were "yet another reminder of the liquidity boost that is helping to drive the market."