3 Jul 2012

Wall St down, Europe up

8:01 am on 3 July 2012

Stocks on Wall St have fallen slightly due to contraction in the US manufacturing sector last month for the first time in nearly three years.

However, investors expect more stimulus from the Federal Reserve to prop up the economy.

The Dow Jones Index on Monday was down 36 points, or 0.3%, at 12,844.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 6 points, or 0.2%, to 2941.

In Europe: the FTSE 100 in London rose 1.3%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.2% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.4%.

The Nikkei Index in Tokyo was down 3 points to 9003.

The Australian 200 index rose 38 points, or 0.9%, to 4133 and the NZX 50 rose 40 points to close at 3440.

At 7am on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 80.42 US cents, 78.43 Australian cents, 51.24 pence, 63.88 yen and 0.6389 euro.The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.51.

Brent crude oil was trading at $$US95.54 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1597.10 per ounce.