Europe, Asia markets lower on session

Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were lower on Friday. The biggest losses came in India, where the Sensex dropped 2.25 percent to 13,908.58 on profit taking after four consecutive days of gains. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.68 percent to 20,526.5, while in Singapore the Straits Times Index was 0.81 percent lower, to 3,398.6. Meanwhile in Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.92 percent to 6,141.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 and the Topix index were both lower on the session. The Nikkei fell 0.17 percent to 17,400.41, while the Topix dropped 0.14 percent to 1,701.

The markets also declined in Europe. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 0.59 percent to 1,567.71, while the Xetra Dax dropped 0.12 percent to 7,378.12 in Frankfurt and in Paris the CAC-40 was 0.23 percent lower to 5,930.77. In London, both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were also lower. The 100 fell 0.78 percent to 6418.7 while the 250 was 0.31 percent lower to 11,903.5.

At early afternoon on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.25 percent higher to 13,138.09, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.07 percent to 2,556.13 and the S&P 500 was up 0.08 percent to 1,495.43.

Crude oil prices were higher on the day, as were the unleaded gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas futures. Precious metals prices were mixed, with gold and silver higher but platinum lower.

In the currency markets, the US dollar fell to an all-time low against the euro.

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