NEW YORK: Stock markets brushed aside better than expected US economic data Thursday and traded lower as the peculiarities of year-end trading dominated activity. German and Japanese stocks led the retreat on their last trading day of the year. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 23.35 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,971.01, while France's CAC-40 fell 39.89 points, or 1 percent, to 3,850.76. Germany's DAX closed down 81.28 points, or 1.2 percent, at 6,914.19 on its shortened final trading day of the year. This year the DAX has risen nearly 1,000 points, or around 16 percent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 15.67 points, or 0.14 percent, at 11,569.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.86 points, or 0.15 percent, at 1,257.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.95 points, or 0.15 percent, at 2,662.98. Volume came to a thin 910 million shares. The S&P is up more than 14 percent since August, contributing to a reluctance to make large bets as light volume leaves the market more susceptible to volatility. Technical indicators such as the S&P 500's relative strength index led some investors to call for a pullback. In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 115.62 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 10,228.92, meaning it has ended the year down around 3 percent, mainly on account of those yen-related concerns. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 8.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 2,759.58, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 30.04 points or 0.1 percent, to close at 22,999.34. The euro rose to $1.3286 from $1.3214 in low-volume trading at the end of the year. The British pound fell to $1.5415 from $1.5509 and the dollar fell to 81.52 Japanese yen from 81.63 yen a day earlier. The dollar also fell to a 28-year low against the Australian currency, which has climbed this year as demand for Australia's iron ore and other commodities grows. After peaking earlier at $1.0197, the Australian dollar fell to $1.0157 late Thursday from $1.0176 Wednesday. The dollar dipped to 1.0002 Canadian dollars from 1.0006 Canadian dollars. In other trading Thursday, the dollar fell to 0.9355 Swiss francs from 0.9467 Swiss francs. The Swiss currency touched a record low in after-hours trading at 0.9347 francs. Energy prices dropped Thursday. In New York, benchmark light sweet crude for February delivery lost $1.28 to settle at $89.84 a barrel. It was the first time in more than a week that oil settled below $90. In London, Brent crude fell $1.05 to settle at $93.09 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
