Wall Street rises as commodities recover

Stocks on Wall Street closed higher as commodity prices recovered from last week's slump and takeover activity continued.

Crude-oil prices advanced above $US100 a barrel, while gold and silver futures both rose. Chevron gained 0.7%, while Exxon Mobil added 0.1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46.09 points, or 0.4%, to 12,684.83 at the close (8am NZ time).

McDonald's gained 1.2% after its same-store sales rose 6% in April, the biggest monthly increase since October. Caterpillar was also strong, rising 1.8%.

Dollar Thrifty shares rallied 13% after Hertz Global Holdings offered to buy the car-rental company in a deal valued at $US2.36 billion in cash and stock.

Biotechnology company Alkermes climbed 1.8% after saying it would buy a drug-technology unit of Irish drug maker Elan in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $US960 million.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% to 2843.25 and the S&P 500- index gained 0.5% to 1346.29, led by its energy sector.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
European stock markets declined, led by a drop in financial shares, as concerns mounted over Greece's debt burden and as Standard & Poor's cut the country's credit rating.

Greece's ASE Composite index dropped 1.5% to 1349.91, pulling down other markets under debt pressure such as Spain, where the Ibex 35 lost 2% to 10396.30, and Italy, where the FTSE MIB dropped 1.3% to 21666.40.

The broader Stoxx Europe 600 index shed 0.3% to 280.43, its fourth loss in five sessions. The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.6% to 5942.69, France's CAC-40 index ended down 1.3% at 4007.26 and Germany's DAX shed 1.1% to 7410.52

Most Asian stock markets edged higher but Japanese shares declined on concerns about potential power shortages. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7% to 9794.38 as the Hamaoka nuclear plant, southwest of Tokyo, was shut down on earthquake safety fears.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.8% to 23336.00, snapping an eight-session losing streak. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to 2872.46, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3% to 4756.80 and Taiwan's Taiex climbed 0.6% to 9035.48.

Singapore's Straits Times Index jumped 1.2% to 3136.94, after the ruling People's Action Party remained in power with an overwhelming majority despite winning the lowest proportion of the popular vote since the nation's independence in 1965.

Korea's Kospi, however, slipped 0.4% to 2139.17 because of concerns the Bank of Korea might raise interest rates this week to fight rising inflation.

Commodities: Oil, gold rebound
Oil futures rose sharply after last week's rout, as buyers returned to the market believing the worst of the declines are over.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose $US3.04, or 3.1%, to $US100.22 a barrel in New York. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $US101.17 before pulling back.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange recently gained $US3.65, or 3.4%, to $US112.78 a barrel.

Gold edged back above $US1500 and ounce after last week's sell-off provided what some saw as potential bargains.

The most actively traded gold contract, for June delivery, settled up $US11.60, or 0.8%, at $US1503.20 in New York. Nearby May gold was up $US11.70, or 0.8%, at $US1502.90.

Currencies: Euro drops in Greek downgrade
Standard & Poor's two-notch downgrade of Greece's credit rating drove investors to sell the euro. It fell below its 50-day moving average against the US dollar to its lowest level in nearly three weeks.

It slid to $US1.4254, its lowest level since April 19, from $US1.4353 late on Friday. The euro also dipped to its weakest level against the Swiss franc since March, dropping to 1.2499 francs.

The euro also fell to its lowest levels since March 29 against the yen at ¥115.03.