World stocks mixed amid uncertainty about outlook after overnight Wall Street decline

World stock markets mixed after Wall Street fall

BEIJING — World stock markets were mixed Friday amid investor uncertainty about the global outlook after Wall Street fell on weak energy demand.

In Asia, markets in Tokyo and Seoul declined, while Hong Kong and China gained after major U.S. indexes slid by about 1 percent overnight. The dollar was lower against the yen and euro.

Investors are trying to sort out conflicting signs from last week’s upbeat U.S. growth data, lower oil prices and a weaker dollar, said Andrew Orchard, Asian strategist for Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong.

“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern. We have conflicting forces,” Orchard said.

As trading opened in Europe, Britain’s benchmark edged up 0.1 percent, while Germany’s DAX added 0.1 percent and France’s CAC-40 shed 0.4 percent.

In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down fell 34.18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,770.31. Elsewhere, Seoul’s Kospi was off 0.1 percent at 1,571.99. Singapore’s market traded flat, while Sydney shed 0.8 percent.

Among rising markets, China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 percent to 3,187.65, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recouped its early losses to gain 0.7 percent to 22,553.63.

Wall Street was poised for a modestly higher open Friday, with Dow and S&P futures up about 0.3 percent each.

On Thursday, a government report showing a jump in U.S. energy inventories caused stocks to slide on concern gasoline demand was falling due to the struggling economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.9 percent, or 93.79 points, to 10,197.47. That was its biggest drop since Oct. 30 and only its second this month.

That overshadowed an unexpectedly strong jobs report by the Labor Department, which said new unemployment claims fell last week to the lowest level since January.

The U.S. government said last week the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, its strongest performance in two years.

“The surprise on growth in the U.S. should have people a bit more optimistic,” said RBS’s Orchard. “That has been a bit of a surprise.”

Also Thursday, the S&P 500 index fell 11.27, or 1 percent, to 1,087.24, after two days of gains. The Nasdaq fell 17.88, or 0.8 percent, to 2,149.02.

Oil eased to just above $76 a barrel in Asia, with benchmark crude for December delivery up 41 cents at $77.35 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $2.34 to settle at $76.94 on Thursday.

Gold prices gained $3.1 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $1,109.7 an ounce.

The dollar fell to 90.08 yen from 90.36 yen, while the euro gained to $1.4896 from $1.4858.