Brent crude oil fell to its lowest level in almost four years yesterday after key Middle East producers signalled they would keep output high even if that meant lower prices.
Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened after comments from Federal Reserve officials drove views that interest rate hikes could be delayed, lifting pressure off metals prices, while stocks clawed out small gains after last week's rout.
Stronger-than-expected data out of China gave the bulls some respite, but traders remained cautious after numbers out of China and Germany last week pointed to a global slowdown.
Stock traders on Wall Street were bracing for the full onslaught of the quarterly earnings season, with many expecting the next move in equities to take its cue from corporate outlooks for the rest of the year.
The US bond market was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
Earlier, technical indicators dominated trading as the S&P 500 broke below 1,900 and its 200-day moving average, before recovering.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 24.59 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 16,568.69, the S&P 500 gained 1.07 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 1,907.2 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.39 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 4,291.63.
The S&P 500 last week posted its largest weekly decline since March 2012 on continued concern about the strength of the global economy.
The MSCI All-Country World index was up 0.23 per cent after earlier hitting a seven-month low.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed up less than 0.1 per cent.
Chinese trade data eased fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, with exports having grown 15.4 per cent year-on-year in September and imports up seven per cent in terms of value, both ahead of market expectations. But broader concerns about global growth remained.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.4 per cent. The Japanese yen, often sought as a safe haven in uncertain times, gained 0.2 per cent against the dollar, to 107.46, and the euro rose 0.3 per cent to $1.2668.
Earlier this month, the dollar index hit its highest level since June 2010.
A combination of abundant supply and concerns about global demand has crushed crude oil prices in recent weeks. Brent crude futures last traded down twoper cent at $88.40, having touched $87.74, the lowest level since December 2010.
Kuwait said Opec was unlikely to cut production to support prices, while Saudi Arabia has privately told oil market participants it could be comfortable with $80 oil price.
The sharp decline in oil prices, however, kept pressure on gold in the medium term as inflation expectations have gone down.
Gold rose to a near four-week high of $1,237.30 an ounce and last stood near $1,228, up 0.4 per cent.