Wall Street rises as domestic factors hold sway

Stocks on Wall Street rose as domestic news pushed aside continuing concerns about the eurozone debt crisis.

Consumer plays and energy shares led the market higher after data showed home prices fell less than expected in April.

Other readings, however, fell short of expectations with consumers confidence easing more than expected in June, the fourth month in a row it has dropped.

Shares in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp climbed 8.5% after the Wall Street Journal reported the company was considering splitting its film and entertainment business from its newspaper and publishing arm.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Averaged was up 32.01 points, or 0.3%, to 12,534.67.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.5% to 1320.00 with the consumer discretionary sector advancing 1.5%, its steepest daily climb since June 14. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6% to 2854.09.

Other markets: Europe, Asia fall
European stocks fell as Spain's banking sector struggled further after a fresh round of downgrades.

The benchmark Stoxx 600 index finished down 0.1% at 242.60, extending losses into a fourth straight day.

Spanish banks Banco Popular, off 7.1%, and Bankia, down 8.7%, were among 28 institutions downgraded by Moody’s. Madrid’s IBEX 35 index lost 1.4% to close at 6528.40, after sliding 3.7% on Monday.

The UK's FTSE 100 index ended 0.1% lower at 5446.96, France's CAC-40 closed down 0.3% at 3012.71, Italy's FTSE Mib slumped 1.1% to 12968.18 and Greece's ASE index rose 1.6% to 575.83.

Germany's DAX bucked the trend, closing up 0.1% at 6136.69.

Asian stocks mostly ended down, with Japan's Nikkei Average falling 0.8% to 8663.99 for the third straight loss.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng carved out a 0.5% gain to 18981.84. after losing 3.2% over the previous three sessions.

Korea's Kospi dropped 0.4% to 1817.81, Australia's S&P ASX 200 retreated 0.4% to 4013.30 and the China Shanghai Composite ended flat at 2222.07.

Commodities: Oil, gold drop
Crude-oil futures turned lower as traders put the chance of any progress at the upcoming European Union summit as close to nil.

Crude oil for August delivery retreated 26USc, or 0.3%, to $US78.95 a barrel in New York.

Gold futures also retreated. The August delivery contract lost $US13.50, or 0.9%, to $US1574.90 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar falls back
The US dollar pared gains against the euro as stocks rose and a report showed US consumer confidence fell more than expected this month.

The euro traded at $US1.2496, off its lows of $US1.2454 and from $US1.2504 late on Monday.

The US dollar traded at ¥79.46 compared with ¥79.67, while the euro was at ¥99.238 from ¥99.61.

The UK pound bought $US1.5632 from $US1.5574, and the dollar fetched 0.9615 Swiss franc from 0.9605 franc.