In the US tonight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 14 points at 12,107, losing late morning gains, but still above a morning low of 12,072.
The S&P 500 gained 2 points to 1,384, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2 points to 2,404.
In Asia today, the Nikkei closed up 220.94 points 16,076.20, while the Hang Seng was recently at 18,770.07, up 130.54 points.
New York's Mercantile Exchange's main oil contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was up 13 cents at $61.12 a barrel from $60.99 in the US overnight.