US stocks manage to stay positive

New York: US stocks held on to modest gains on Wednesday amid jitters over a government financial rescue package being debated in Congress for a second day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted up 3.66 points (0.03 per cent) to 10,857.83 around 1536 GMT and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 15.20 points (0.71 per cent) to 2,168.53.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.12 points (0.18 per cent) to 1,190.34.

European stock markets closed in negative territory yesterday, with the London FTSE 100 index shedding 0.79 per cent at 5,095.57.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares unofficially closed 0.5 per cent lower at 1,102.67, falling for the third consecutive session.

Asian stock markets ended higher as Warren Buffett's plan to invest at least $5 billion in Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.2 per cent Wednesday to close at 12,115.03 after languishing for much of the day in negative territory.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.5 per cent to 18,961.99.

Gold edges up

Gold edged up on Wednesday, with a weak dollar and a firmer oil supporting prices.

Spot gold rose to $899.00/$901.00 an ounce at 1329 GMT, against $890.70 at the nominal New York close on Tuesday.

Dollar

The euro trimmed gains versus the dollar and yen yesterday. The euro slipped to $1.4682 from about $1.4738 following the release of weaker-than-expected US existing home sales. It was also off session highs at $1.4746.

Against the yen, the euro was at 155.33, slipping from intraday peaks at 156.20 yen.

US crude gains over $1

Oil rose on Wednesday as concern about US fuel supplies and signs the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cut output in September outweighed doubts about the US government's plan to rescue the finance industry.

US crude traded up $1.35 to $107.96 a barrel by 1513 GMT, while London Brent crude gained $1.36 to trade at $104.44 a barrel.

US refinery utilisation fell to the lowest level on record in the week through September 19. Crude stocks fell by 1.5 million barrels, below expectations of a two-million-barrel fall, while gasoline stocks fell by 5.9 million barrels, compared with expectations of a four-million-barrel draw.