Stocks on Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday as economic data and the renomination of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke reassured investors and offset concerns about the federal budget soaring to a record high this year.
The government forecasts that the US national debt will nearly double over the next 10 years.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 30 points, 0.3%, at 9539
The Nasdaq Composite closed up 6 points, also 0.3%, at 2024.
European shares had their highest close since October on Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4%, the Frankfurt DAX index closed up 0.7% and in Paris the CAC-40 index closed up 0.8%.
Earlier, in Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 index closed down 0.8%.
The Australian 200 Index closed down 20 points, or 0.5%, at 4405.
The NZX 50 closed up 12 points, or 0.4%, to 3080 on Tuesday on turnover of $37 million.
The New Zealand dollar reached a new high for 2009 against the US dollar overnight, reaching 68.98 US cents.
At 8.25am on Wednesday, it was trading at 68.46 US cents 81.85 Australian cents, 41.88 pence, 64.46 yen and 0.4787 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 63.61.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US73.5 per barrel. Gold was trading at $US943 per ounce.
