Continental among carrier shares setting 52-week highs By August Cole, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 1:32 PM ET Sep 2, 2003 SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Rising shares of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines helped lead the sector sharply higher as a handful of U.S. carriers reached 52-week highs. With both Northwest (NWAC: news) and Delta (DAL: news) up more than 7 percent, the Amex Airline Index ($XAL: news) rose 3.2 percent to 58.23 in afternoon action. GET QUOTES Enter one or more symbols Quotes delayed up to 20 Minutes RELATED QUOTES NWAC 10.03 +1.06 DAL 14.35 +1.48 $XAL 59.63 +3.22 CAL 16.50 +1.24 JBLU 54.40 +0.50 Top MarketWatch Headlines ATA delays aircraft payments to save cash U.S. stock indexes end with heady gains Japanese stocks close higher Among the stocks hitting 52-week highs on an intraday basis, Continental Airlines (CAL: news) hit $16.20 and was last up 84 cents to $16.10. Likewise, JetBlue Airways (JBLU: news) reached $54.09 before backing off to a loss of 1 cent on the session to $53.89. In addition, Alaska Air Group (ALK: news) rose 28 cents to $27.87, off a year high of $27.93 set earlier in the session. And Mesa Air Group (MESA: news) fell 17 cents to $11.70 after earlier touching a 52-week high of $11.90. U.S.-traded shares of British Airways (BAB: news) also hit a new high for the 52 weeks, reaching $31.80. Elsewhere, Southwest Airlines (LUV: news) rose 8 cents to $17.17. Among the aerospace companies at 52-week highs, United Technologies (UTX: news) hit $80.75 and U.S.-listed shares of Brazil's Embraer (ERJ: news) rose to $20.53 at one point. August Cole is spot news editor at CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco. Roger EWROPS