SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - U.S. stocks ended little changed on Wednesday, amidst confusion over whether Russia would invade Ukraine.

Commodity prices strengthened pushing the commodity currencies higher, amidst a broad U.S. dollar sell-off.

"There are not really any signs of (Russian) de-escalation. That's going to put commodities likely on firmer footing given that extent supply and inventories are really low," Bipan Rai, North America head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets told Reuters Wednesday.

The Dow Jones dipped 54.57 points or 0.16 percent, to close Wednesday at 34,934.27.

The Standard and Poor's 500 inched up 3.94 points or 0.09 percent to 4,475.01.

The Nasdaq Composite slid 15.66 points or 0.11 percent to 14,124.09.

The U.S. dollar was sold off on Wednesday as tensions with Russia eased, and doubts grew about the likelihood of an invasion of Ukraine.

The euro strengthened to 1.1387 by the New York close Wednesday. The British pound swelled to 1.3595. The Japanese yen edged up to 115.41. The Swiss franc firmed to 0.9213.

The Canadian dollar jumped to 1.2683. The Australian dollar rose sharply to 0.7202. The New Zealand dollar was stronger at 0.6689.

London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.07 percent Wednesday. The German Dax declined 0.28 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 was off 0.21 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 595.21 points or 2.22 percent, to close Wednesday at 27,460.40.

The Australian All Ordinaries advanced 82.70 points or 1.10 percent to 7,573.00

In New Zealand, the S&P/NX 50 rose 183.57 points or 1.54 percent to 12,121.89.

Seoul, South Korea's Kospi Composite added 50.73 points or 1.90 percent to 2,727.27.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 363.19 points or 1.49 percent to 24,718.50.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 19.74 points or 0.57 percent to 3,465.83.