World sharemarket rise as eurozone fears ease

World sharemarkets rose at the start of the trading week as investors expressed optimism about European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's plan to address the eurozone's sovereign-debt crisis

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 21.34 points, or 0.2%, to 13,117.51 at the close (8am NZ time).

The gains built on Friday's rally, when the Dow climbed more than 200 points after July's US jobs report came in better than expected.

The S&P 500 added 0.2%, to 1394.23, with nine of its 10 sectors gaining ground. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7% at 2989.91.

Shares of Knight Capital plunged 22.8% after the struggling broker said it sold $US400 million in convertible preferred stock to bolster its capital position.

The capital injection from other trading companies allowed Knight to cover its $US440 million loss.

A software glitch related to the introduction of a new trading program of the New York Stock Exchange led Knight to holding at least $US4.5 billion worth of securities it hadn't planned to buy.

Other markets: Europe, Asia up
The Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.5% to 266.80, a more than four-month high.

The UK’s FTSE 100 ended 0.4% higher at 5808.77, Germany’s DAX 30 rose 0.8% to 6918.72 and the French CAC 40 advanced 0.8% to 3401.56.

Spain’s IBEX 35 index rallied 4.4% to 7053.60, after an earlier tech glitch kept it out of commission for much of the session.

Asian markets were broadly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 2% to 8726.29.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 4272.60.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index traded above the 20,000 mark for the first time since May but eased at the to close 1.7% higher at 19,998.72.

The Shanghai Composite was up 1% to 2154.92.

Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Crude-oil futures for September delivery closed 71USc or 0.5% higher at $US92.12 a barrel.

Gold futures eased slightly.  The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, traded down 30USc at $US1609 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro’s rally stalls
Last week’s euro rebound stalled as it traded at $US1.2407 from $US1.2387 late on Friday, when the  euro gained 2USc.

The US dollar was at ¥78.14 compared with ¥78.47, while the euro was at ¥96.970 compared with ¥97.20.

The pound traded at $US1.5620 from $US1.5644, while the dollar bought 0.9678 Swiss franc from 0.9702 franc.