Stocks in the United States ended little changed on Monday, as investors took a breather after a four-day rally that lifted major indexes to 10-month highs.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 3 points at 9506
The Nasdaq Composite closed down 2 points, 0.1%, to 2017.
European shares reached their highest closing level in more than 10 months on Monday, with the FTSE 100 closing up 0.9%.
The Frankfurt DAX and Paris CAC-40 both closed up 1%.
Earlier, in Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 closed up 3.3%.
The Australian 200 Index closed up 135 points, or 3%, at 4426.
The NZX 50 closed up 32 points, or 1%, to 3067 on Monday.
At 6.30am on Tuesday: the New Zealand dollar was trading at 68.53 US cents, 81.87 Australian cents, 41.8 pence, 64.84 yen, 0.4793 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 63.69.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US74.7 per barrel. Gold was trading at $US942 per ounce.
