Key stock indexes around the world were little changed, as were the dollar and US Treasury yields, in thin trading ahead of a holiday weekend for Christmas.
The dollar held steady against a basket of major currencies, lingering about half a percent below a 14-year peak set earlier this week.
US Treasury prices were slightly firmer in thin volumes as investors awaited economic data due to be released ahead of an extended holiday weekend.
Trading volumes have been muted this week, which is also the last full week of trading this year. US markets will be shut for the Christmas holiday on Monday.
US equity indexes turned positive but remained near their Thursday closing levels.
The dollar held steady against a basket of major currencies
“With Christmas this weekend and New Year’s just over a week away, global stocks may meander between losses and gains as investors strategise for 2017,” said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM in Croydon, London.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.55 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 19,925.43, the S&P 500 gained 1.52 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,262.48 and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.45 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5,453.87.
European stocks were mixed, with banks edging higher after two regional bellwethers settled investigations into US mortgage securities and a bailout for Italy’s oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi, was approved as the country’s government looked to end a protracted banking crisis that has gummed up the economy.
European shares were ostensibly flat with an index of Italian lenders up 0.5 per cent.
While Monte dei Paschi shares were suspended from trading, Italian government bond yields fell, with 10-year yields slipping to 1.81 per cent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which touched a five-month low on Thursday, fell 0.48 per cent, and was heading for a weekly drop of more than two per cent in a second consecutive week of declines.
Japan’s Nikkei, closed for a holiday yesterday, was up 0.1 per cent for the week. The index has posted seven straight weeks of gains, its longest winning streak since early 2013,boosted by the yen’s weakness in the face of a surging dollar.
Gold edged higher as the dollar retreated from a 14-year peak, tempting some buyers to take advantage of a near 10-month low in prices after six straight weeks of decline.
Crude oil futures slipped below $55 a barrel as the stronger dollar weighed and as higher Libyan output threatened to counter some of the supply cuts planned by Opec and other producers.