US factories push up shares

Stocks on Wall Street mostly rose after a September factory activity report showed an unexpected expansion.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose unexpectedly to 51.5 from 49.6 a month earlier.

At the close (9am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 77.98 points, or 0.6%, to 13,515.11, trimming an earlier gain of as much as 161 points.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.3%, to 1444.49. Energy and financial shares led the index while the telecommunications, utilities and technology sectors lagged behind.

The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.1%  to 3113.53.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stocks rose, boosted by upbeat US data and relief over Spain's bank stress tests.

These showed that seven out of 14 banks will need further capital, amounting to €59.3 billion, which was slightly lower than consensus expectations.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 1.4% to 272.33.

The UK's FTSE 100 ended up 1.4% at 5820.45, France's CAC-40 ended 2.4% higher at 3434.98 and Germany's DAX closed up 1.5% at 7326.73.

Elsewhere, Italy's FTSE Mib jumped 2.8% to 15523.10, Spain's benchmark IBEX-35 gained 1% to 7784.10 and Greece's ASE Composite climbed 0.7% to 744.42.

Indian shares closed at a more than 14-month high. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex, ended up 61.17 points, or 0.3%, at 18,823.91. It last closed above this level on July 25, 2011.

Asian markets were mostly lower, with Japanese shares hitting a multi-week low after weak manufacturing data from China and an unimpressive result of the quarterly Tankan survey.

The Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.8% to 8,796.51 in Tokyo, after losing about 1.5% in the July-September quarter.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index ended fractionally higher at 4388.60 in Sydney.

Markets in Hong Kong, China and Korea were closed for a holiday.

Commodities: Gold at seven-month high
Gold futures settled at the highest price in seven months. The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, rose $US9.40, or 0.5%, to settle at $US1783.30 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar drops
The US dollar declined against the euro after a surprisingly positive report on US manufacturing relieved some worries about the economic outlook.

The euro rose to $US1.2903 compared with $US1.2859 late on Friday.

The US dollar was at ¥78 compared with ¥77.93. The UK pound traded at $1.6146 from $1.6163, while the dollar bought 0.9373 Swiss franc from 0.9398 franc.

The ICE dollar index slipped to 79.74 from 79.894.