Stocks on Wall St rose modestly in choppy trading on Tuesday, with concerns about Europe offsetting a jump in crude prices.
The market earlier rose as much as 1% when crude oil prices went above $US100 per barrel.
But the euro went lower after German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected any suggestion of raising the limit of Europe's future bailout fund.
The Dow Jones Index was up 53 points, at 12074 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 5 points at 2607.
In Europe: the DAX in Frankfurt fell 0.2%, the CAC40 in Paris fell 0.4% and the FTSE 200 in London gained 1.1%.
The Australian 200 Index fell 59 points, or 1.4%, to close at 4193. The NZX 50 slipped 7 points to finish at 3293.
At 8.25am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 76.10 US cents, 75.66 Australian cents, 49.03 pence, 59.33 yen and 0.5827 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 68.15.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US109.56 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1658 per ounce.
