Wall Street recovers in late rally

Stocks on Wall Street held Tuesday’s gains after a late rally eliminated heavy losses earlier in the trading day.

The previous session's 337-point rise in the Dow was one of the biggest one-day gains this year.

The pall of Europe again fell over the market as eurozone banks swamped the central bank with demands for capital.

On top of that, the US tech sector turned in some disappointing earnings, notably from Oracle, which fell 13.6% after second quarter earnings were lower than expected.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up just 4.16 points at 12,107.74 after being 100 points down at midday.

The broader S&P 500 index was up 0.2% at 1243.72 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 1% at  2577.97.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
Stocks in Europe rose then fell after the European Central Bank allotted a bigger-than-expected €489.19 billion in three-year loans to 523 eurozone banks.

The Stoxx Europe 600, which had gained as much as 1.4% in intraday trading, finished down 0.5% at 237.29, its first loss in three sessions.

Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.9% to 5791.53, the French CAC 40 index shed 0.8% to 3030.47 and the UK’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.6% to 5389.74.

Asian markets were mostly higher, with Korea's Kospi running up 3.1% to 1848.41.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average advanced 1.5% to 8459.98, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 2.1% to 4137.70 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.9% to 18,416.45.

China's Shanghai Composite rose by as much as 1% before staging a retreat, finishing down 1.1% at 2191.15, its ninth loss in 10 sessions.

Taiwan's Taiex recorded the region's biggest gains, rising 4.6% to 6966.48 a day after the government said it would use a government fund to steady the stock market, which has slumped 22% this year.

India's Sensex index jumped 3.4% to 15,685.21, snapping a five-session losing streak that had brought the benchmark to a 28-month low.

Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Crude futures surged after a government report showed a US oil stockpiles fell 10 million barrels, the most in more than a decade.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery surged as high as $US99.25 a barrel in New York. But futures quickly gave up those gains to settle up $US1.43 at $US98.67 a barrel.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 41USc higher at $US107.17 a barrel.

Gold futures pulled back after a nearly $US21-an-ounce gain in the previous session, though prices held above $US1600 an ounce.

Gold for delivery in February fell $US4, or 0.3%, to settle at $US1613.60 an ounce in New York. Prices have now tallied losses in six out of the last eight trading sessions.

Currencies: Euro falls on ECB lending
The euro extended its losses, falling from as high as $US1.3198 earlier to $US1.3056, down from $US1.3082 late on Tuesday.

The trigger was heavy borrowing by European banks. This sparked worries the banks will pile into risky "carry" trades – borrowing cheaply from the European Central Bank and buying high-yielding peripheral sovereign debt.

The UK pound rose to $US1.5694 from $US1.5662, while the Japanese yen erased gains, with the dollar buying ¥77.88, from ¥77.89 late on Tuesday.