Wall Street claws back two-day gain

Blue chips closed lower but most stocks on Wall Street held on for the second consecutive rise.

Investors were buoyed by better-than-expected US housing data, which added to hopes the market is recovering from a six-year downturn.

But renewed fears of Greece's exit from the eurozone sent stocks south in late trading.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.59 points  to 12,502.89 while the S&P 500 index was up less than a point to 1316.67.

However, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3% to 2839.08 as Facebook shares continued to fall.

Other markets: Europe, Asia up
European markets were broadly higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 1.9% to 244.76, its biggest gain in a month as optimism ahead of the European Union summit offset the OECD's lowered growth forecast for the eurozone.

The OECD said the economic bloc would contract 0.1% this year, rather than expanding 0.2%. The 2013 outlook was cut to growth of 0.9% from 1.4%.

London's FTSE 100 index rallied 1.9% to 5403.28, the French CAC 40 index advanced 1.9% to 3084.09 and the German DAX 30 index rose 1.7% to 6435.60,

Italy's FTSE MIB index led national benchmarks, surging 3.4% to 13456.03, while in Spain, the IBEX 35 leapt 2.1% to 6661.30,

Asian markets rose in absence of any worse news from Europe.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.6% to 19039.15; it had been down in 12 of the past 13 sessions, for a cumulative loss of 11.2%.

Japan's Nikkei was up 1.1% to 8729.29, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.2% to 4121.0, Korea's Kospi gained 1.6% to 1828.69 and the China Shanghai Composite gained 1.1% to 2373.31.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude futures gave back nearly all of the previous session’s gains on fears about the eurozone after growth expectations there were lowered and on signs of some progress with Iran.

Crude for June delivery retreated 91USc, or 1%, to end at $US91.66 a barrel in New York.

Gold futures extended the previous session’s losses as investors favored the US dollar on lower economic growth in the eurozone and a credit-rating downgrade for Japan.

Gold for June delivery declined $US12.10, or 0.8%, to $US1576.60 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar advances
The US dollar gained ground and the Japanese yen dropped after Fitch Ratings cut Japan's sovereign rating to A-plus from double-A.

The dollar changed hands at ¥79.96 compared with ¥79.31 late on Monday, and the euro traded at ¥101.82 from ¥101.66.

The euro was at $US1.2730 from $US1.2818. The dollar bought 0.9433 Swiss franc from 0.9372 franc, and the pound fetched $US1.5770 from $US1.5834.