NEW YORK (June 26, 2012)--Homebuilders led major stock indexes higher at the close of trading Tuesday and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. surged after the media conglomerate said it may split into two companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32 points to close at 12,535 Tuesday.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose six points to close at 1,320.

PulteGroup, Lennar and other housing stocks climbed after a measure of national home prices rose 1.3 percent in April, the first increase in seven months.

News Corp. jumped 8 percent after the company confirmed that it's contemplating a breakup into two publicly traded companies.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite rose 18 points to close at 2,854.

Nearly two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was thin at 3.3 billion shares.