Dow closer to recovering year's losses

Blue-chip stocks pushed higher on Wall Street but lost much of their gains in the final hour of trading.

Earlier, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as high as 149 points as investors erased all of Monday's market losses, betting on a rescue plan for Greece and more stimulus from the US Federal Reserve.

But traders cited a mix of late-day headlines for the change in sentiment. These included a warning of a looming shutdown of the US federal government and renewed concerns over Greece's progress in securing another tranche of aid needed to stave off a default.

European markets got a boost after a Greek finance ministry official said late on Monday that Greece was close to an agreement with its official creditors.

Investors also expected the Fed will announce other steps to help the economy after a two-day meeting of the policy-setting committee. This may include changing the composition of its securities portfolio so it holds more longer-term debt.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow was the only index to finish higher -- up just 7.65 points, or 0.1%, to 11,408.66. This compares with Monday 's108-point loss.

The blue-chip index is still short of erasing its 2011 loss, after falling as much as 7.4% in August.

The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.2% to 1202.08, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.9% to 2590.24.

Other markets: Europe rises, Asia mixed
European stock markets ended higher with the Stoxx Europe 600 index rising 1.8% to close at 229.10, after snapping a four-day winning streak on Monday with a 2.3% decline.

The French CAC 40 index rose 1.5% to close at 2984.05, aided by a 3.2% gain for pharmaceutical group Sanofi, and Germany’s DAX 30 index rose 2.9% to 5571.68.

The FTSE 100 index gained 2% to close at 5363.71 as retailers and miners added to gains from drug stocks.

Asian markets ended mixed after choppy trade and euro-exposed exporters losing ground in Tokyo.

The Nikkei Stock Average ended down 1.6% at 8721.24 as markets resumed after a three-day holiday weekend,

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1% to 4040.2.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended 0.5% higher at 19014.80, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 2447.76, Korea's Kospi rose 0.9% to 1837.97 and India's Sensex tacked on 2.1% to 17099.28.

Commodities: Oil down, gold reclaims $US1800
Oil futures sank 2.6%, pulled down by pessimism over Greek debt woes and US growth prospects.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $US2.26 to settle at $US85.70 a barrel in New York – the lowest since August 26.

Brent crude for November delivery on the ICE Futures Europe exchange settled down $US3.08, or 2.7%, to $US109.14 a barrel.

Gold futures reclaimed $US1800 an ounce as investors saw a bargain in the drop to multi-week lows the previous day.

The gold contract for September delivery rose $US30.20, or 1.7%, to settle at $US1806.60 in New York.

Currencies: Swiss franc falls on tipped moves
Widespread market speculation that Switzerland may adopt further measures to prevent its currency from inflicting further damage on its export sector sent the franc sharply lower.

The franc's strength is a direct function of how Europe's raging debt crisis is churning the market.

The euro spiked as high as 1.2215 francs before paring some of those gains to trade near 1.2157 francs.

The euro was at $US1.3684 compared with $US1.3686 late on Monday, and at ¥104.70 from ¥104.89.

The dollar was at ¥76.51 compared with ¥76.59, while the UK pound was at $US1.5692 from $US1.5715.

The dollar climbed as high as 0.8922 franc before scaling back to 0.8884 franc from 0.8820 franc late on Monday.