Thursday, January 12, 2012

Wall Street ekes out gains, Europe closes lower

The S&P 500 closed at a five-month high for the third day on Thursday, but had difficulty extending gains in the face of lackluster economic data and another European bond market test.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 21.57 points, or 0.17 percent, to end at 12,471.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.02 points, or 0.23 percent, to finish at 1,295.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 13.94 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 2,724.70.

European shares fell after a profit warning from retail heavyweight Tesco and weak US retail and labour data more than offset relief from successful Spanish and Italian debt auctions.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares fell 0.3 percent to a provisional close of 1,018.75 points after hitting a five-month high of 1,031.08.

Japan's Nikkei average fell in profit-taking ahead of a futures settlement, as market participants fretted over key debt auctions in Europe and a European Central Bank meeting this week.

The Nikkei dropped 0.7 percent to 8,385.59, below its 25-day moving average near 8,483 but above the 61.8 percent retracement level of its rally from late November to early December, near 8,363.

The benchmark has largely kept to a narrow range of 8,350 to 8,500 since mid-December.