NEW YORK (Reuters) - Equities markets rose on Wednesday, lead by gains in European stocks, and the euro edged up on signs, later dismissed, that Greece and its creditors were drafting an agreement that would provide Athens much-needed debt relief.
U.S. equities also climbed on the news on Greece, with the Nasdaq posting a record closing high.Wednesday's gains in equities came a day after European and U.S. equities slumped on worries about Greece.The U.S. dollar index ticked lower, though the greenback advanced against the yen. Nikkei futures rallied.Greece's government said it was starting to draft an agreement with creditors including the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, but European officials quickly dismissed that as wishful thinking. The rebuttal notwithstanding, market moves triggered by the Greek announcement mostly held into the end of the session."It clearly shows that the markets have got a reaction on all these occasions as they'd like to see a deal, a continuation of the euro zone as a whole," said IG analyst Chris Beauchamp."But you shouldn't really believe anything until the deal is officially on the table and the ink is dry. Until you reach that point, everything is just up in the air as it has been."The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 121.55 points, or 0.67 percent, to 18,163.09, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 19.29 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,123.49 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 73.84 points, or 1.47 percent, to end at a record 5,106.59.“People felt yesterday was an overreaction and I would agree,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments in Lisle, IllinoisThe FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> of top European shares closed 1.3 percent higher after falling 1.1 percent in the previous three sessions. Greek shares closed up 3.6 percent.Nikkei futures