NEW YORK, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended sharply higher Friday, with the main indexes scoring weekly gains of more than 2 percent.

    The Dow Jones industrial Average rose more than 140 points in a lightly traded session.

    Stocks started out sluggish but vaulted following a stronger-than-expected reading on new homes sales for July. That report followed a reading showing orders to factories for big-ticket goods rose sharply in July.

    In close trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 142.99,or 1.08 percent, to 13,378.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose16.87, or 1.15 percent, to 1,479.37. The Nasdaq composite index rose 34.99, or 1.38 percent, to 2,576.69.

    For the week, the Dow rose 2.29 percent, its biggest point gain since the week ended April 20. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq saw their biggest weekly point gains since the weeks ended March 23.

    The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that new home sales rose 2.8 percent in July, after falling 4 percent in June. A second report showed that orders for durable goods advanced 5.9 percent in July, the biggest increase in 10 months.