Stocks rise ahead of long holiday weekend

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, with the Dow rising to a two-year high as the two-day meeting of the G-20 finance ministers kicked off in France.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 73 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 12,391. The S&P 500 (SPX) added 2.6 points, or 0.2%, to reach 1,343 ; and the Nasdaq (COMP) rose 2.4 points, or 0.1%, to 2,834. All three indexes closed up 1% for the week.

With the exception of the Dow, stocks saw modest movement as Wall Street watched the two-day G-20 session. Markets are closed Monday for the U.S. holiday.

Leading the Dow higher, shares of Caterpillar closed up 2%, while shares of Alcoa fell 1.4%. Among the S&P 500, Intuit (INTU), maker of TurboTax, saw its shares rise 8% after issuing earnings guidance above analysts' estimates.

While investors said they do not expect any earth-shattering news out of this weekend's G-20 meeting, they are hoping for some clarity from emerging market economies on the issue of inflation.

Ahead of the G-20 meeting, China's central bank said it will raise the reserve requirement ratio for the nation's banks by half a percentage point, marking the second increase so far this year. The government has hiked the reserve requirement six times in 2010, as the country attempts to combat inflation.

"You cannot ignore the fact that commodities have been the story of 2011," said Kevin Mahn, chief investment officer with Hennion & Walsh. "We need to hear what the emerging market economiies are going to do to combat this growing problem."

Crude oil for April delivery climbed over $90-a-barrel mark earlier in the day, following numerous news reports that the situation in Bahrain -- a oil-rich country near Saudi Arabia -- was quickly deteriorating.

U.S. stocks ended at fresh multi-year highs Thursday, as investors focused on an upbeat manufacturing report and looked past indications that inflation is heating up.

G20: The two-day G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers got under way in Paris.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on a panel of central bankers, including the heads of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the People's Bank of China.

Bernanke said unbalanced flows of money between nations is again posing a risk to the global economy and financial stability, adding that the uneven flow of funds into the United States from 2003 to 2007 was one of the key factors that led to the meltdown in financial markets in 2008.

World markets: European stocks closed mixed. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, the DAX in Germany was up 0.3% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.1%.

China's central bank will raise the reserve requirement ratio for the nation's banks by half a percentage point, marking the second increase so far this year. The government hiked the reserve requirement six times in 2010, as the country attempts to combat inflation.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite stumbled 0.9%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained almost 1.3% and Japan's Nikkei ticked up about 0.1%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained strength against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell versus the British pound.

Oil for April delivery gained 98 cents to $89.71 a barrel after being up as much as 2% earlier in the day

Gold futures for April delivery rose $3.50 to $1,388.60 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.62% from 3.57% late Thursday.