8 Jun 2012

Offshore markets up

8:49 am on 8 June 2012

Wall St was mixed on Thursday as optimism about China's interest-rate cut was offset by comments by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, which dimmed hopes for more US stimulus.

Meanwhile, Spain managed to raise more than 2 billion euros at a bond auction, tempering fears it is being cut off from financial markets, although it had to pay a heavy price.

The Dow Jones Index rose 46 points, or 0.4% , to close at 12,461.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 14 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 2831.

The FTSE 100 in London closed up 1.2%, the DAX 30 in Frankfurt gained 0.8% to 6144, while the CAC-40 in Paris added 0.4% to 3071. Madrid, gained 0.3%.

The Australian 200 Index gained 53 points, or 1.3%, to close at 4109 on Thursday and the NZX 50 rose 10 points, to close at 3474.

At 8.20am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 76.81 US cents, 77.62 Australian cents, 49.47 pence, 61.15 yen and 0.6115 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.93.

Brent crude oil was trading at $US100.70 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1588.84 per ounce.