NEW YORK - Stocks wavered on Wall Street Tuesday, threatening to halt a seven-day rally. The Dow Jones industrial average was up three points at 14.451 heading into close. The index wavered between small gains and losses for most of the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down four points at 1,552. The Nasdaq composite had dropped 11 points to 3,242. The stock market has surged this year as investors became encouraged by a recovery in the housing market and a pickup in hiring. Strong corporate earnings and continuing economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve are also supporting demand for stocks. LONDON - Trading on European stock markets produced mixed results as poor British economic data competed with better news from Spain, where borrowing costs eased as Madrid sold plenty of short-term debt in a sign of improving market confidence. London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies rebounded from slight early losses to gain a modest 0.11 per cent and close at 6,510.62 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 was 0.23 per cent lower at 7,996.12 points while in Paris the CAC 40 was up by just 0.10 per cent at 3,839.97. In Madrid the Ibex 35 was off by 0.26 per cent at 8,532.30 points, and in Milan the FTSE Mib fell by 0.42 per cent to 16,024 points. HONG KONG - Asian markets fell as profit takers reversed earlier gains, but the US dollar extended its recent upward trend against the Japanese yen. The regional losses came despite another record close for the Dow Jones index on Wall Street, while Shanghai suffered another steep fall after the weekend's disappointing data on the Chinese economy. Tokyo slipped 0.28 per cent, or 34.24 points, to 12,314.81 and Seoul lost 0.5 per cent, or 10.01 points, to 1,993.34. Hong Kong was 0.87 per cent lower, shedding 200.22 points to 22,890.60 while Shanghai lost 1.04 per cent, or 23.98 points, to 2,286.61. WELLINGTON - The NZX 50 Index rose 12.18 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4,378.76.