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Sales gains at its Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic chains and online helped clothing seller Gap Inc. overcome rising costs and post first-quarter net income on Thursday that was unchanged from a year earlier.

The company raised its guidance for the year, and its shares climbed after hours.

Gap has struggled for years to reclaim its status as a fashion leader, and the results show it is making strides in its effort to get more people to shop in its stores. More than two-thirds of the company’s revenue came from stores in the U.S., while 12 percent was generated online.

“During the quarter, we improved sales, grew earnings per share and continued investing in the business to drive performance,” said CEO Glenn Murphy.

Gap said its net income was $233 million, or 47 cents per share, for the period that ended April 28. That includes a benefit of a penny per share related to reassessing its tax position, Gap said. Analysts on average forecast earnings of 46 cents per share, according to FactSet. Gap’s earnings rose on a per-share basis, even though its net income was flat, because the company had 16 percent fewer shares outstanding.

Gap first announced its quarterly revenue earlier this month. It rose 6 percent to $3.49 billion, topping analysts’ average forecast for $3.46 billion.

Revenue from stores open at least a year, an important gauge of retailers’ health, rose 4 percent instant credit reports. The comparison is considered key because it isn’t skewed by results from stores that open or close during the year.

The measure rose 5 percent at Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America and 4 percent at Old Navy stores in North America. It fell 4 percent at international stores, though total overseas revenue rose 13 percent to $511 million.

Online revenue rose 18 percent to $410 million, the company said.

Gap said its operating expenses were $980 million, up $62 million from a year earlier, and its margin was about 10 percent. Marketing expenses rose $20 million to $139 million in the most recent quarter, including greater investment in marketing the Gap brand.

The company raised its guidance to $1.78 to $1.83 per share from $1.75 to $1.80. Analysts expect $1.97 per share.

After hours, Gap shares rose more than 8 percent at one point. They settled up about 94 cents, or 3.6 percent above their closing price of $26.31. The shares had lost 79 cents during regular trading Thursday. Over the past year, they’ve traded between $15.08 and $29.23.

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The price of oil is down another 2 percent as signs of global economic weakness raise concerns about energy demand.

Oil has fallen every day since May 1. The price of benchmark U.S. crude has dropped by 6.7 percent in that time, while Brent crude has declined 5.4 percent.

On Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost $2.31, or 2.3 percent, to $95.63 per barrel in New York. Brent crude lost $2.32, or 2 percent, to $110.84 per barrel in London.

Prices have declined on disappointing jobs numbers in the U personal business card.S. and elections in France and Greece that put Europe’s austerity program in jeopardy. Analysts say benchmark crude could hit $90 by Labor Day.

Meanwhile, the national average for gas is now $3.76, down 17.2 cents per gallon since early April.

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NEW YORK, N.Y.

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after a burst of manufacturing growth in the U.S. pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close in more than four years.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up less than 0.1 percent at 9,354.45 after a sharp tumble the day before. Other Asian markets opened higher following public holidays. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 percent to 21,258.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China also rose.

U.S. manufacturing expanded last month at its strongest pace since June, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Orders, hiring and production all rose, while a measure of manufacturing employment reached a nine-month high.

That news came on top of a similar report out of China on Tuesday that showed moderate manufacturing growth in the world’s No. 2 economy.

The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers index, or PMI, rose 0.2 percentage points to 53.3 percent in April, up from March’s 53.1 and February’s 51.0. A reading above 50 signifies expansion.

Still, traders were looking ahead to Friday for further clues about the strength of the U.S. economy, when the Labor Department releases monthly jobs figures for April.

“Risk appetite has firmed following the release of firmer manufacturing confidence data in both the US and China but market action is likely to be limited ahead of the key US April jobs report at the end of the week,” analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a report.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5 percent to close at 13,279.32. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.6 percent to 1,405.82. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.1 percent to 3,050.44.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 35 cents to $105.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.29 to finish at $106.16 per barrel in New York.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3218 from $1.3228 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 80.09 yen from 80.21 yen.

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The Portuguese government reduced spending limits for next year as part of its effort to curb debt and regain access to bond markets.

The government will reduce its primary spending limit by 3.2 percent in 2013 and lower the limit for total spending by 2.1 percent, according to a statement handed out to reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Lisbon today. The plans are included in the government

Out of work and worried about their future, a young couple gathers their belongings and heads overseas in search of greener pastures. It

Yasushi Mieno, the Bank of Japan governor who stuck a pin in the nation

Two Iraqi election officials facing corruption charges said Sunday they have been released on bail after a three-day detention that they said was designed to pressure the independent electoral body.

The detention of the two election officials has fueled concerns that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate power and bring independent officials and government bodies under his control.

The officials, Faraj al-Haidari and Karim al-Tamimi, were detained Thursday after a decision to reinvestigate old corruption charges against the commission. Both officials vehemently denied the allegations, and described their detentions as an attempt to pressure the panel. A spokesman for al-Maliki has denied any government pressure, saying the issue is with the courts.

Al-Haidari, who heads the electoral commission, said by phone that he and al-Tamimi were released Sunday. He said the judge who released them found that the two did not violate the law but said it was not clear whether the case will continue or not. Both paid 15 million Iraqi dinars (about $12,500) in bail.

Al-Tamimi confirmed that he had also been set free. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone from his house.

“Right now, I am with my family. I will continue my work in IHEC in order to serve my country,” he vowed.

The charges against the two officials relate to payments given to employees of the government real estate registration department for plots of land given to IHEC board members. The officials said they acted completely within the law in making the payments, and earlier charges were dropped.

Although corruption is a serious and widespread problem in Iraq, such investigations have also been used as way to pressure officials.

The election commission, which carries out voting and tallies the results, is one of the country’s more powerful institutions, and the detained officials are two of its more prominent members free business cards.

The nine-member board is drawn from Iraq’s various ethnic and sectarian factions.

The panel found itself in the middle of Iraq’s most heated political debate in years after the recent parliamentary election in 2010. A Sunni-backed bloc narrowly won the most seats in the election. Although it was not enough to secure a majority, its strong showing was a surprise in the Shiite-dominated country.

As political factions scrambled to assemble support for a governing coalition, supporters of al-Maliki demanded recounts and complained the vote was plagued with fraud.

International observers called the vote and ballot count fair, and after a torturous recount also supervised by IHEC, the original results were widely found to be accurate.

Haidari said the detention is retribution for the men’s work on the last elections.

Al-Maliki eventually kept his job after managing to form a broader Shiite coalition.

Also on Sunday, three separate attacks killed five people across the country.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, security official Hallow Najat said an explosion near the city’s university killed one and wounded 15. A roadside bomb in Hawija in northern Iraq hit a car carrying the leader of an anti-al-Qaida militia, killing his son, said Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir.

In the northern suburbs of Baghdad, gunmen blew up a Shiite family’s house in the Sunni-dominated Taji area, killing three and wounding two others, police and health officials said on condition of anonymity.

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Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report

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Confidence among U.S. consumers cooled in April from a one-year high, a sign the moderation in job growth may limit the biggest part of the economy.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan