Friday, March 2, 2012

Wall Street dips, eyes on oil prices

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their eighth week of gains in the last nine, but momentum ran out on Friday as shares ended the day lower after a thinly traded sessio

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 2.73 points, or 0.02 percent, to 12,977.57 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 4.46 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,369.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 12.78 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 2,976.19.

European shares retreated after Spain signalled a higher deficit this year than previously agreed with the European Union, ending a rally that followed the ECB's funding exercise this week.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,084.38 points at 1305 GMT, retreating from 1,090.12, its highest level since Feb. 21.

Japan's Nikkei average hit a fresh seven-month closing high on Friday after a European Central Bank liquidity operation this week underpinned market sentiment, but it failed to hold above 9,800 for a third day as market players warned of a correction.

While investors continued to pick up real estate companies and financials, they took profits in recent gainers like automakers.

The benchmark Nikkei climbed 0.7 percent to 9,777.03, bringing its weekly gain to 1.3 percent. The index, however, failed to top technical resistance near 9,838, a 61.8 percent retracement of its fall from February to November last year.