US shares surged to a three-week high Tuesday as crude oil and gasoline futures prices plummeted.

Light sweet crude for delivery in October fell sharply by 1.61 dollars to closed at 65.96 dollars a barrel in New York, as US refiners got ready to restart plants and other Gulf Coast petroleum operations slowly recovered. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery dropped 18 cents to 64. 67 dollars a barrel from Monday's close.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 141.87 points, or 1.36 percent, to 10,589.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 15. 37 points, or 1.26 percent, to 1,233.39. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 25.79 points, or 1.20 percent, to 2, 166.86.

In company news, Home Depot and Coca Cola climbed on expectation of rebuilding after Katrina. Home Depot rose 1.38 dollars to 41.71 dollars and Coca Cola gained 62 cents to 44.52 dollars. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, climbed 1.14 dollars to 45.69 dollars, although the company claimed that Hurricane Katrina could hurt its sales for September.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was 1.42 billion shares, an increase from the 1.27 billion shares traded on Friday.

Source: Xinhua