Wall St gains for 4th day on central banks' move

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street gained for a fourth straight session on Thursday after major central banks coordinated efforts to offer liquidity into the strained European banking system.

The European Central Bank (ECB) along with other major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, will reintroduce three-month dollar liquidity operations in the fourth quarter. ]

The move was seen as good for the European banking system, which has experienced renewed strains in finding dollar funding due to growing distrust between lenders amid the region's sovereign debt crisis.

"The stress is still there as long as sovereign debt issues aren't dealt with aggressively, but this move eases short-term funding problems," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak + Co in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 81.36 points, or 0.72 percent, at 11,328.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 7.58 points, or 0.64 percent, at 1,196.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 11.86 points, or 0.46 percent, at 2,584.41.

Financial stocks were early top gainers, with the S&P financial sector index <.GSPF> up 1 percent. Among individual stocks, Bank of America Corp rose 1.8 percent to $7.18, and JPMorgan Chase & Co gained nearly 2 percent to $33.42.

The move by the central banks offset weaker economic reports showing new weekly jobless claims hitting their highest level since late June and a gauge of New York state factory activity contracting in September.

Switzerland's UBS AG said it discovered unauthorized activity by a rogue trader in its investment bank that led to a loss of some $2 billion. U.S.-listed shares of UBS fell 9.3 percent to $11.50.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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