Stocks rose moderately in early trading Friday as oil prices fell and after Boeing Co. won a contract to build U.S. Air Force helicopters.

Light, sweet crude was down 45 cents at $60.71 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for worldwide demand this year.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.69, or 0.13 percent, to 12,118.99.

Broader stock indicators also gained. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 1.89, or 0.14 percent, at 1,380.22, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 5.69, or 0.24 percent, at 2,381.70.

Boeing won out over Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technology Corp.'s Sikorsky division in securing a contract worth about $13 billion to build combat search and rescue helicopters.

In other corporate news, insurance company American International Group Inc. saw its third-quarter profit more than double due to higher sales increased and a quiet hurricane season.

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