Global shares end mixed on Google, euro zone

Global shares were little changed in choppy trading on Thursday with a European benchmark at a 15-month closing high as tension surrounding the euro zone's debt crisis continued to ease.

US stocks fell, with the Nasdaq dropping 1 percent, as Google shares slumped after the company reported revenue and earnings below analysts' expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 11.13 points, or 0.08 percent, to 13,545.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 4.39 points, or 0.30 percent, to 1,456.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 31.98 points, or 1.03 percent, to 3,072.14.

European stocks rose in a late-session rally, climbing for the fourth straight session as investors bet Spain would soon request a bailout and tensions surrounding the euro zone crisis would continue to abate.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares unofficially closed 0.2 percent higher at 1,121.12 points, just a few points shy of a 14-month high hit in mid-September.

Japan's Nikkei share average leapt to a three-week high after China's GDP figures reassured with no nasty surprises, prompting investors to buy back heavily battered shares that an increasingly soft yen made even more attractive.

The benchmark rose 2 percent to 8,982.86 in heavy volume, sailing above its 25-day moving average as the yen softened to 79 versus the dollar, a fillip for exporters whose overseas earnings have been crimped by the strength of the Japanese currency.

The broader Topix climbed 1.7 percent to 752.30 in heavy trade, with volume at 132.7 percent of its 90-day average.