Blue chips rise on Wall Street

Blue chip stocks on Wall Street rose but the broader market is flat.

China’s trade deficit for February was larger than expected, subduing demand for shares and commodities.

At the close (9am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37.69 points, or 0.3%, to 12959.71.

Blue chips posted their third consecutive gain on Friday but fell 0.4% on the week, the index's first back-to-back weekly losses since November.

The S&P 500 index was steady 1371.09 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1% to 2983.66. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% last week for its fourth-straight weekly gain.

Materials and energy stocks are weighing most on the S&P 500. Among blue chips, Exxon gained 1.1% and Wal-Mart rose 1.2%. The Dow's biggest decliners on a percentage basis were J.P. Morgan Chase, down 1.5%, and Caterpillar, down 1.2%.

Other markets: Europe, Asia down
European markets fell, ending a three-day rally. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2% to 264.87.

The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% to 5892.75 and Germany's DAX index rose 0.3% to 6901.35, while France's CAC-40 index edged 0.1% higher at 3490.06.

Asian market fell. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average reversed early gains to finish 0.4% lower at 9889.86, after rising sharply in the last two trading days.

China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2% to 2434.86, Korea's Kospi lost 0.8% to 2002.50, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.4% to 4196.7 and Taiwan's Taiex declined 1.1% to 7297.55.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finished 0.2% higher at 21134.18 after a roller-coaster ride,

India’s Sensex rose 0.5% to end at 17,587.67, coming off its intraday high of 17,772.10.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
Oil futures finished lower as China's large trade deficit sparked concerns of a slowdown in the world's second-biggest oil consumer.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled $US1.06, or 1%, lower at $US106.34 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 60USc, or 0.5%, lower at $US125.39 a barrel.

Gold futures slipped on similar fears of falling demand. The most actively traded contract, for April delivery, fell $US11.70, or 0.7%, to $US1699.80 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar falls
The euro rose against the US dollar after European officials reassured the market Greece would get approval for its second bailout as early as this week.

The euro was at $US1.3147 from $US1.3123 late on Friday. The euro's gains came after it started the global session by hitting a near one-month low of $US1.3079. The euro was at ¥108.11 from ¥108.20.

The dollar was at ¥82.23 compared with ¥82.47 late on Friday. The pound bought $US1.5635 compared with $US1.5673, while the dollar changed hands at 0.9167 Swiss franc from 0.9190 franc.