Stocks on Wall Street rebounded on Wednesday after two days of losses. Energy shares rose, as did oil prices.
The Dow Jones index closed up 0.4% higher, at 14,836. The S&P 500 index gained 0.36% to 1636 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.41% to close at 3595.
Jitters over Syria caused European markets to fall. The FTSE 100 in London was down 0.17%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 1.03% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.21%.
The price of Brent crude oil continues to rise concerns about Syria and was trading at $US118.50 per barrel.
Gold was also slightly higher, trading at $US1419.16 per ounce.
At 8.30am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was buying 77.95 US cents, 81.16 Australian cents, 50.25 pence and 0. 5853 euro.