Wall Street declines after big gains

Asia-Pacific equities markets saw gains on Friday. In India, the Sensex added 0.1 percent to 15,565.55, while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.6 percent to 6,457.7. The Hang Seng index was 1.2 percent higher to 23,291.9 in Hong Kong, while in Singapore the Straits Times index gained 1.3 percent to 3,651.38. The advances were smaller in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 gained 0.2 percent to 18,157.93 and the Topix closed at 1,776.17, 0.5 percent higher on the session.

European markets saw significant losses. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.16 percent to 1,599.63. In Frankfurt the Dax was 1.46 percent lower to 7,874.85, while the CAC-40 fell 1.79 percent to 5,957.16 in Paris and Madrid’s IBEX dropped 1.82 percent to 14,930.1. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.83 percent to 6,585.2, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.51 percent to 11,819.4.

In early afternoon trade, Wall Street was lower a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 14,000 level for the first time in history. The Dow was down 1.26 percent to 13,824.34, while the Naasdaq Composite fell 1.41 percent to 2,681.56 and the S&P 500 was 1.24 percent lower to 1,533.81.

Crude oil prices were lower in afternoon trade in New York, while metals prices were higher in London and New York.

Sterling added 1.2 percent in relation to the US dollar over the week, taking it to a series of new 26-year highs against the greenback. The US currency also declined in relation to the euro and the yen.

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