Stocks rise as US Congress approves budget

Stocks on Wall Street turned higher but still lacked certain direction as the first quarter earnings season got under way.

Blue chips were down by more than 100 points in morning trading, but pared their losses during the afternoon after the House of Representatives (Congress) voted to approve a budget bill that will fund the government through to September – the end of the fiscal year.

The Senate will take the bill up later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, first-quarter earnings gave reasons for investors to show optimism.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 14.16 points, or 0.1%, higher to 12,285.15 at the close (8am NZT).

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.1 point to 1314.52 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.3 points at 2760.22. Google was up 0.2% ahead of its first-quarter results due after the closing bell.

Technology stocks weakened after industry researcher Gartner said global shipments of personal computers fell 1.1% in the first quarter. Dell slipped 2.7%.

Other markets: Banks hit European shares, Asia also down
European stocks slid, fuelled by negative news in the global banking sector and new worries about Greek debt.

Spanish lender Bankinter reported a 26% decline in first-quarter profit and was among the biggest decliners. The Stoxx Europe 600 banks index fell 1.5% at 202.55.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.5% lower at 277.01. The UK's FTSE 100 index slid 0.8% to 5963.80 and the French CAC was down 0.9% at 3970.39. The German DAX fell 0.4% to 7146.56.

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks led many Asian markets lower, on fears Beijing will continue to tighten its monetary policy.

Stocks in Singapore dropped as it currency hit a record high against the US dollar.

China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3% to 3042.64, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 0.5% to 24014.00 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 4884.25.

Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.4% to 3158.92 and Indonesia's main stock index dropped 0.7% to 3707.98. Markets in India and Thailand were closed for holidays.

Commodities: Oil, gold rise
Oil futures in New York finished higher as the dollar slid against the euro and traders remained focused on a drop in US petrol supplies.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up $US1, or 0.9%, to $US108.11 a barrel. The contract for May Brent crude on the ICE Futures Exchange, which expired on Thursday, settled down 52USc, or 0.4%, to $US122.36 a barrel.

Gold futures vaulted higher. The contract for April delivery rose $US16.80, or 1.2%, to settle at $US1,471.70 an ounce in New York.

The more actively traded contract for June delivery also settled 1.2% higher, at $US1472.40. This was the highest settlement price since the record $US1474.10 set last Friday.