Thursday, January 5, 2012

Wall Street ends up, European shares lower

Banks led Wall Street to gains on Thursday even as Europe struggled again, a sign investors are betting a relatively strong US economy will help US stocks outperform other markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 2.72 points, or 0.02 percent, to 12,415.70. The S&P 500 Index gained 3.76 points, or 0.29 percent, to 1,281.05. The Nasdaq Composite added 21.50 points, or 0.81 percent, to 2,669.86.

European shares slid, with banks the biggest fallers on worries that some of them will have to follow UniCredit and offer deep share price discounts when they recapitalise to shore up ravaged balance sheets.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares fell 0.8 percent to close at 1,013.39 points, having hit a five-month high on Tuesday.

The Nikkei average slipped to pull back from a three-week closing high hit the previous day, hurt by worries that turmoil in Europe will keep the euro weak and hurt Japanese exporters.

The Nikkei lost 0.8% to 8,488.71, breaking below its 25-day moving average of 8,503 after gaining 1.2% in the previous session.