NEW YORK, Aug 17 (AFP) - Wall Street shares closed higher Tuesday, but record oil prices capped the day's gains amid concerns over a multi-billion-dollar tax bill facing Russian oil giant Yukos.
The Dow Jones industrials average of 30 top stocks closed up 18.28 points, or 0.18 percent, at 9,972.83.
The technology-laden Nasdaq market index closed higher 12.41 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,795.25.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index finished up 2.37 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,081.71.
Shares had moved higher in morning trading as oil prices retreated, also spurred by some upbeat economic news that showed a boom in new home building and rising industrial output as well as a slight fall in inflation.
However, stocks retreated into the close as oil prices rocketed to fresh highs.
New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for delivery in September spiked at an all-time high 46.95 dollars a barrel before finishing at a record settlement of 46.75 dollars, up 70 cents on the day.
Analysts said the oil spike was due to Yukos concerns. The Russian oil giant wishes to use its stake in rival Sibneft to pay off 3.4 billion dollars in back taxes claimed by the state.
But a Moscow court Tuesday rejected its legal bid for the right to do so.
The market was also awaiting confirmation that regulators had given Internet search giant Google approval to sell shares for its planned Nasdaq listing.
The Internet search giant has said its shares are likely to start trading between 108 and 135 dollars a share.
The firm had set a preferred deadline of 4:00 pm (20:00 GMT) Tuesday for the Securities and Exchange Commission to give it approval to sell shares.
Home building in the United States soared by an unexpectedly steep 8.3 percent in July, recovering from a slump the previous month as weather improved, the Commerce Department said.
"After wet weather depressed housing in June, a sunny July helped boost activity in the sector," said Wachovia senior economist Gina Martin.
Builders began work on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.978 million homes in the month, the department said.
Separately, the Federal Reserve said US factories, mines and utilities raised combined production by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in July, nearly recovering from a 0.5 percent drop in June.
And the Labor Department reported that consumer prices unexpectedly dipped a slight 0.1 percent in July as sky-high gasoline prices at the pump eased.
All three economic reports helped support the day's gains.
Home Depot closed up 1.12 dollars, or 3.30 percent, at 35.10 dollars after reporting record fiscal-second-quarter net profits of 1.5 billion dollars, or 70 cents per diluted share -- a gain of 25 percent compared with the same period in 2003.
Bonds prices strengthened.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell to 4.206 percent from 4.258 percent late Monday, while that on the 30-year bond dipped to 5.014 percent from 5.048 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.