7 Jan 2012

No lift for markets from jobs report

10:54 am on 7 January 2012

A favourable jobs report in the United States failed to bolster Wall Street on Friday.

The Dow Jones and SP 500 indexes were down on continuing worries about the debt crisis in the eurozone.

In closing trade the Dow Jones was down 54.66 points, 0.44%, at 12,361.

The SP 500 slipped 3.19 points, 0.25%, to 1,277.87. However, the Nasdaq Composite finished up 4.36 (0.16%) at 2,674.

The euro also continued its decline. On Friday it was below $US1.27 for the first time since September 2010.

The FTSE100 in London closed down 0.45% at 5649, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.62% at 6057 and the CAC40 in Paris was down 0.24% at 3137.

The Australian share market was also down on Friday. The ASX 200 index closed 0.8% lower at 4,109 and the All Ordinaries Index lost 32 points to finish on 4,165.

Brent crude futures fell 36 cents to $US112.38 per barrel. Spot gold prices fell 0.30% to $US1617.70 per ounce.