Wall Street ends week lower, European shares turn positive

Shares of US banks slumped on Friday after JPMorgan said it lost billions of dollars on bad trades, but the overall market ended only modestly lower, thanks to gains in technology shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.44 points, or 0.27 percent, at 12,820.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 4.60 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,353.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.18 points, or 0.01 percent, at 2,933.82.

European shares staged a late rally on Friday following positive US economic data, although traders and investors said the gains could be short-lived due to ongoing concerns over Spanish banks and political uncertainty in Greece.

The FTSEurofirst closed up 0.3 percent at 1,022.52 points, having spent much of the day in negative territory. At one point, the index had fallen as much as 1.2 percent to an intraday low of 1,006.89 points.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average sank below 9,000 for a sixth straight week of losses, with a choppy earnings season seeing Sony Corp tumbling to a 32-year-low but camera maker Nikon Corp and others surging on strong guidance.

The Nikkei fell to 8,953.31, and was down 4.5 percent on the week. The Osaka Securities Exchange said after the close that Nikkei futures settled at 9,019.35. The broader Topix index slipped 0.9 percent to 758.38, a 3-1/2 month low.