Friday, January 6, 2012

Wall Street ends down, as European shares chalk up

Stocks rose in the first week of 2012, even though news that the US jobless rate neared a three-year low did not spark buying interest in equities on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 54.42 points, or 0.44 percent, at 12,361.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 3.16 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,277.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.13 points, or 0.15 percent, at 2,673.99.

European shares ended little changed, with many investors happy to cash in on three weeks of gains ahead of the start of the US fourth-quarter earnings season on Monday.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of European shares ended the day up 0.03 percent at 1,013.73 points, pointing to a 1.2 percent gain on the week, which saw encouraging data from the United States and China momentarily offset concerns about the euro zone.

Japan's Nikkei share average slipped more than 1%, backing further away from its 25-day moving average as investors fretted over the euro zone debt crisis and weakness in the single currency.

The Nikkei fell 1.2% to 8,390.35, declining below its 25-day moving average at 8,500, and marking a 0.8% loss for the week. The broader Topix dipped 0.9% to 729.60 as participants avoided risk ahead of a three-day weekend, with Japanese markets closed on Monday for a national holiday.