Around the World's Markets: New York

WALL STREET ignored Tokyo's panic and firmed up - but trade was volatile. By the end of the morning, the Dow Jones was up more than 30 points to 7654.6.

Stocks were at first lifted by a categorial denial of rumours that Lehman Brothers was about to go bust because of market turmoil. Wall Street was also buoyed by a recovery in Brazilian markets.

"This is typical volatility. We are seeing a change from the sentiment of buy the dips to sell the rallies," said one director of trading.