Wall Street rocks and rolls on Bernanke testimony

Stocks on Wall Street rose, fell then rose again as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave evidence before the US Senate Banking Committee.

He gave a dour view of the economy but left investors wondering whether the Fed would take any imminent steps to support the US economy.

As the session drew to a close, investors took account of strong results from Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs, keeping the benchmarks well in the black.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 78.33 points, or 0.6%, to 12,805.54.

The S&P 500 index gained 0.7% to 136367 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4% to 2910.04.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed 0.3% lower at 256.09, breaking a two-day winning streak.

The UK FTSE 100 index shed 0.6% to 5629.09. HSBC dropped 1.7% after a US Senate investigation accused the bank of dealing with money launderers and potential terrorist financiers over many years.

Security company G4S tumbled 5.7% on the Olympic Games staff shortage and contract debacle.

The French CAC 40 index closed 0.1% lower at 3176.97 while the German DAX 30 index rose 0.2% to 6577.64,

Asian markets rose. Australia’s S&PASX 200 rose 0.9% to 4140.8. In Japan, the Nikkei was 0.4% higher at 8755.00 after the market was closed for a holiday on Monday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was 1.8% higher at 19455.33. Korea's Kospi gained 0.2% to 1821.96 and the Shanghai Composite climbed 0.6% to 2161.19.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures turned negative after Dr Bernanke gave no hint that a third round of quantitative easing would occur soon.

Prices tumbled 1.4% to an intraday low of $US87.66 a barrel but recovered to be down 56USc, or 0.6%, at $US87.88 a barrel.

Gold futures ended lower. The August delivery contract declined $US2.10, or 0.1%, to settle at $US1589.50 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: US dollar, euro rise
The euro was at $US1.2256 compared with $US1.2272 late Monday. The US dollar was at ¥79.08 compared with ¥78.86, while the euro traded at ¥96.920 compared with ¥96.76.

The UK pound bought $US1.5622 from $US1.5635, while the dollar fetched 0.9801 Swiss franc from 0.9786 franc.