Wall Street closes higher on oil rise, tech gains

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street closed higher Tuesday with rising in crude oil prices and gains in tech stocks.

The Dow added 11 points to finish the first trading day of the week at 19,945 and the S&P rose five points to 2,268.

The Nasdaq increased 24 points to end the day at 5,487 -- a new record close.

American automaker and energy storage company Tesla Motors saw its shares jump 3 percent after Japanese electronic giant Panasonic announced it would invest 30 billion yen ($260 million) in Tesla's solar plant in Buffalo, New York, to manufacture solar cells.

The deal is expected to solidify Tesla's plans to integrate its electric cars and batteries with rooftop solar panels for consumers, according to experts.

Amazon's stock rose 1.4 percent after consumers rushed to online retailers to do their holiday shopping.

Oil prices climbed more than 1 percent Tuesday as Jan. 1 approaches -- the day OPEC's deal to curb production will begin to take effect.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose at $53.82 a barrel -- a 1.5 percent increase. International benchmark Brent crude was up 1.6 percent to $56.76.

Wall Street was closed on Monday, in observance of Christmas on Sunday.