NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street closed higher on the last trading day of 2008 on Fed's latest move to boost economy and a larger-than-expected drop in the jobless claims.

The U.S. stocks won biggest gains in two weeks, with all three major indexes rallying more than 2 percent, on Tuesday after the U.S. government committed six billion U.S. dollars to support GMAC LLC.

The rally continued on Wednesday with technology shares gaining strongly.

The Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday night that in a bid to lower the mortgage cost, it aims to buy 500-billion-dollar mortgage-backed securities by mid-2009.

Market sentiment was also lifted after the U.S. Labor Department reported that initial claims for jobless benefits in the week ending Dec. 27 decreased by 94,000 to 492,000, a far larger decline than the market had anticipated.

It was the lowest reading for initial claims since the week ending Nov. 1. The 4-week moving average was 552,250, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 558,000.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 108.00 to 8,776.39. Broader indexes were also higher, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq closing at 903.25 and 1,577.03, respectively.
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