Dow lags as Wall Street reverses losses

Blue chips on Wall Street failed to get out of the red while the broader market did better to recover from Tuesday's losses.

Investors started the trading day cautiously after a disappointing read on existing home sales, which dipped slightly last month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as many as 57 points in the morning trading but only clawed some of that back by the close (9am NZ time).

It was down 45.57 points, or 0.4%, to 13,124.62. The S&P 500 index was down 0.2% at 1402.90 while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.17 points to 3075.32.

Weighing on the downside were energy and financial stocks.

Chevron fell 1.0% and Exxon Mobil 0.7%, while Hewlett-Packard shed the most at 1.2% after it unveiled a reorganisation plan that folds its printing business into its personal-computer group.

Gains at Bank of America, up 0.4%, and Coca-Cola, up 0.8%, helped limit some of the Dow's declines.

Other markets: Europe steady, Asia mixed
European stocks ended a rather bumpy session little changed as a strong showing in the retail sector helped to offset weak banking shares.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.1% at 268.67. The UK's FTSE 100 index ended nearly flat at 5891.95, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 7071.32 and France's CAC-40 index ended down 0.1% at 3527.37.

Most Asian markets ended lower as lingering worries about China's economic growth pressured commodity and export stocks.

Japanese shares declined for the first time in six trading days, with the Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.6% to 10,086.49 as trading resumed after Tuesday's holiday.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index retreated 0.5% to 4254.30, Korea's Kospi lost 0.7% to 2027.23 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% to 20,856.63.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 2378.19, Taiwan's Taiex edged up 0.1% 7981.94 and India’s Sensex rose 1.7% to 17,601.71.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude-oil futures prices rose after weekly government data showed a surprise drop in US oil inventories.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $US1.10, or 1%, to $US107.17 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange was 14USc higher at $1US24.26 a barrel.

Gold futures made modest advances, regaining some of the ground lost from the previous day’s selloff as bargain hunters snapped it up at cheaper prices.

Gold for April delivery added $US3.30, or 0.2%, to settle at $US1650.30 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Pound under pressure
The pound came under pressure after data showed the UK government’s borrowing hit a record high in February for that month.

The pound was at $US1.5853, compared with $US1.5862 late on Tuesday. The euro was at $US1.3235 compared with $US1.3225.

The dollar was at ¥84.02 compared with ¥83.71, while the euro was at ¥111.22 compared with ¥110.7.