Stocks on Wall Street edged up yesterday to keep a global equities gauge higher despite declines in Europe, while the euro remained under pressure as Greece grappled with a looming deadline on a debt repayment to the IMF.
Greece submitted a new two-year aid proposal to its creditors, calling for debt restructuring in what seemed like a last-ditch effort by Athens to resolve its impasse with lenders. Talks between Greece and its creditors broke down over the weekend and forced Greece to close its banks and impose capital controls.
Greeks are due to vote in a referendum on Sunday that EU partners say will amount to a choice between staying in the euro or leaving.
Stocks tumbled in major markets on Monday after the Greek talks broke and yesterday’s fading advance was seen as a sign of lingering hope of a deal that would help avoid a default.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.12 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 17,628.47, the S&P 500 gained 3.61 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 2,061.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 13.83 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 4,972.29.
The S&P earlier rose as much as 0.8 per cent.
Equities gained also from support out of China, after signs of intensifying government support helped stop a sharp slide. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 5.6 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.1 per cent.
The MSCI All-Country World equity index was up 0.3 per cent. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index and the eurozone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index were down 0.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
In commodities, oil futures bounced back from three week lows but Brent was set to close its second consecutive month of losses.
Brent was up 1.9 per cent at $63.20 a barrel after falling to $61.35 on Monday, its weakest since June 5. It was down 3.7 per cent for June. US crude gained one per cent at $58.91. It was set for its first monthly decline in three, down 2.3 per cent.
The euro was last down 0.44 per cent against the US dollar at $1.1185. Traders who had bet against the single currency continued to repurchase it after Monday’s rally took it from a four-week low of $1.09550 to a nearly one-week high of $1.12790. US Treasuries yields rose slightly.
Benchmark 10-year Treasuries notes were down 6/32 in price to yield 2.3531 per cent, up two basis points from late on Monday.