Hesitant investors keep stocks depressed on Wall Street

Stocks on Wall Street dropped as a rally in commodities boosted metals companies and the energy sector while financials dragged on the market.

Oil futures rose to a two-year high at $US87.35 a barrel, while gold continued its rise, reaching an intraday high of $US1424 an ounce.

Investors were having second thoughts about last week's $US600 million stimulus and its implications for the global economy.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 60.09 points, or 0.5%, to 11,346.75.

Bank of America was the measure's worst performer, off 1.9%. Despite its plans to sell 25% more shares of BlackRock than it intended, the banking giant remains, at this point, short of the amount of capital it is supposed to have raised by a year-end deadline.

Chevron also weighed on the Dow with a 1.0% drop after the energy giant agreed to pay $US3.2 billion in cash and assume $US1.1 billion in debt to purchase Atlas Energy.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7% to 2562.98 and the S&P 500 index was down 0.8% at 1213.40, with financial companies falling but its energy and materials sectors leading to the upside because of the gains in commodities.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia mixed
European stocks climbed as positive corporate news and a successful Greek Treasury-bill auction offset some of the concerns about sovereign-debt problems in peripheral euro-zone states.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was recently up 0.6% at 273.46. London's FTSE 100 Index was 0.9% higher at 5901.34, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.7% at 6796.58 and Paris' CAC-40 Index was up 0.8% at 3944.49.

Asian stocks ended mixed as investors paused after recent gains ahead of Chinese economic data and a meeting of the leaders of the Group of 20 nations in Seoul this week.

Exporters were pressured in Tokyo as the yen strengthened against the US dollar, while property stocks were down in Hong Kong as Sino Land detailed plans to raise funds through the sale of new shares, the second major developer to do so in the past week.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4% to 9694.49, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% to 3135 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1% to 24710.60.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 4740.72 and Korea's Kospi Composite was up 0.3% to 1947.46.

India's Sensex climbed 0.4% to 20,932.48, Singapore's Straits Times Index added 0.4% to 3313.61 and Malaysia's KLCI rose 0.4% to a record high of 1526.53.

Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Oil futures retreated from a two-year high and a two-week winning streak as the US dollar rebounded from an earlier fall.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 34USc, or 0.4%, to $US86.72 a barrel in New York, after hitting a fresh two-year high of $US87.63. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange dropped 13USc, or 0.2%, to $US88.33 a barrel.

Gold futures extended their record climb above $US1400 an ounce as euro-zone debt concerns heighten investor desire for a haven, on top of buying gold as a currency hedge.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, settled $US6.90 higher, or 0.5%, at $US1410.10 an ounce in New York. It hit a record intraday high of $US1424.30.

Currencies: Euro down, dollar steady
The euro gave up an early advance that followed a successful sale of Greek government bills that temporarily eased skittishness over euro-zone sovereign debt.

The short-lived reprieve interrupted a euro selloff after the cost of insuring the bonds of Ireland, Spain and Portugal against default reached records.

Such default fears are unlikely to subside and could anchor the euro until the weaker members of the bloc of nations that use the euro resolve their debt woes, analysts said.

The euro weakened to $US1.3866 from $US1.3923 late on Monday. The dollar was flat at ¥81.14 from ¥81.17. The euro weakened to ¥112.44 from ¥112.99.

The UK pound weakened to $US1.6045 from $US1.6131. The dollar moved to 0.9645 Swiss franc from 0.9655 franc.