Wall Street drifts lower

Stocks on Wall Street drifted lower, ending a five-week rally that took the market to its highest level since May 2008.

Investors again shifted their focus to wrangling in Greece over fiscal austerity measures.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 17.10 points, or 0.1%, to 12,8145.13 after paring earlier losses.

The S&P 500 index was down half a point to 1344.33 while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.1% to 2901.99.

Eight of the S&P 500’s 10 sectors were in the red, led lower by materials and financials.

Other markets: Europe, Asia higher
European stock markets mostly fell as investors paused for breath following Friday's bumper gains.

The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.1% to 264.27, pulling back from a six-month high, as Greece's political leaders tried to agree on fiscal austerity measures.

London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2% to 5886.49, Frankfurt's DAX declined 0.5% to 6731.73 and Paris' CAC-40 Index slipped 1% to 3392.99.

Asian markets were mostly higher, with shares in Japan and Australia rallying as exporter and resource shares got a boost from a surprisingly strong US employment report.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index each gained 1.1%, to 8929.20 and 4296.00, respectively.

Unable to hang on to early gains, Korea's Kospi and China's Shanghai Composite finished little changed from Friday, at 1973.13 and 2331.14, respectively.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended 0.2% lower at 20,709.94 after late trading turned choppy, while Taiwan's Taiex dropped 0.7% to 7687.98, breaking a seven-session winning streak.

In India, the Sensex added 102.35 points, or 0.6%, to end at 17,707.31.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
The premium between US crude and Europe's Brent widened to $US19.02, its widest since November, as supply fears rose internationally.

West Texas light, sweet crude for March delivery settled 93USc lower at $US96.91 a barrel in New York while Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $US1.35 higher at $115.93 a barrel.

Gold futures pared losses but ended in negative territory as investors continued to lock in recent gains.

Gold for April delivery, the most-active contract, fell $US15.40, or 0.9%, to settle at $US1724.90 an ounce on New York.

Currencies: Euro fall continues
The euro fell for a third day against the dollar as Greece struggled to cut a deal with its international creditors.

The euro was at $US1.3119 compared with $US1.3159 late on Friday, and at ¥100.43 from ¥100.83.

The dollar traded at ¥76.55 compared with ¥76.60. The UK pound bought $US1.5822 from $US1.5815, while the dollar traded at 0.9194 Swiss franc from 0.9181 franc.