US stocks tread water

Stocks on Wall Street ended mixed as investors awaited finalisation of the euro zone's rescue fund.

Slovakia is the 17th and final country that has yet to give its approval. The pending decision weighed on the market, which moved between gains and losses throughout the session. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 16.80 points, or 0.15%, to 11,416.38 at the close (9am NZ time), one day after a 330-point surge. Stocks had opened in negative territory but pared back losses into the afternoon.

The S&P 500 index was virtually unchanged at 1195.54, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7% at 2583.03.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
European stock indexes closed off their session lows. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended down 0.3% at 235.28. A

The UK's FTSE 100 index closed down 0.1% at 5395.70, while France's CAC-40 index closed 0.3% lower at 3153.52 and Germany's DAX index closed up 0.3% at 5865.01.

Hong Kong stocks helped lift Asian markets, with financial shares surging after a state-backed investment fund boosted its holdings in some of China's biggest banks.

The Hang Seng Index rose 2.4% to 18,141.59, Korea's Kospi climbed 1.6% to 1795.02 and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 2% to 8773.68 as investors returned from a three-day weekend.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% 2348.52 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.6% to 4227.60. India's Sensex fell 0.1% to 16536.47.

Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Oil futures drifted lower before recovering and making a modest gain for the fifth day's trading.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery settled 40USc up at $US85.81 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange was up $US1.78, or 1.6%, at $US110.73 a barrel.

Gold traded in negative territory ahead of Slovakia's vote. The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, settled down $US9.80, or 0.6%, at $US1661.00 an ounce in New York.

The October-delivery contract was down $US9.90, or 0.6%, at $US1659.70 an ounce

Currencies: US dollar rises
The US dollar traded higher against the euro, which gave back some of the previous day's gains.

The euro fell to $US1.3632, down from $US1.3644 in late on Monday. The UK pound changed hands at $US1.5624, down from $US1.5671. The dollar bought ¥76.71, from ¥76.70 .