U.S. stock market indexes were mixed in Wednesday's early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost one-tenth of a percent,

the S&P 500 edged up less than one-tenth of a percent while the NASDAQ declined less than one-tenth of a percent.

European stock markets were higher in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained two-tenths of a percent, the CAC-40 in Paris moved up one-tenth of a percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt gained two-tenths of a percent.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.8 percent to finish at 9,629. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained less than one-tenth of one percent to finish the day's trading at 21,860.

The price of gold rose nearly $7 to trade at $1,553.09 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen but made slight gains compared to the euro.