While you were sleeping: Fresh Wall Street records

Wall Street touched intra-day record highs as equities are still considered the best bet for investors because the US Federal Reserve is seen as keeping its interest rates on hold for now.

"Stocks have retained a hot pitch and there's a lot of demand for equities," National Alliance Capital Markets head of international fixed income Andrew Brenner told Bloomberg.

"The question is how you make money in a low interest rate environment, and equities might be expensive, but they're the least dirty shirt."

The minutes of the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting are scheduled to be released on Wednesday and might offer fresh clues on the chance of a rate hike this year.

The odds of a hike in September stand at 12%, rising to about 38% for December, CME Group's Fedwatch tool reports.

Wall Street rose. In 3.22pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6%. In 3.07pm trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 0.4%.

Gains in shares of DuPont and those of Caterpillar, up 1.7% and 1.5% respectively, propelled the Dow higher. Bucking the trend were shares of Wal-Mart and those of UnitedHealth, down 0.8% and 0.7% respectively, for the biggest percentage declines in the Dow in late afternoon trading.

Oil also gained, helping energy stocks, amid renewed optimism that the world's key producers might coordinate a lid on output.

"While we see little possibility of an actualisation of curtailed OPEC output, there will likely be enough chatter during the next five to six weeks to deter selling in allowing WTI to gravitate at around the $US45 area, at least through the second half of this month," Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil markets consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates, told Reuters.

Shares of Twitter jumped, up 7% at 3.20pm in New York, after a New York Times report the company was in talks with Apple to bring its app to Apple TV.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the session moving almost 0.1% lower from the previous close. France's CAC 40 index slipped 0.1%. Germany's DAX index rose 0.2%, while the UK's FTSE 100 index increased 0.4%.

"Now that the Bank of England has joined the European Central Bank in pushing rates lower, stocks will become that much more attractive, whether or not you think they're overvalued," London-based CMC Markets market analyst Michael Hewson told Bloomberg.

(BusinessDesk)