World stock markets mixed after Wall Street gives little direction

World stocks mixed after flat Wall Street finish

BANGKOK — World stocks were mixed Thursday amid mild profit-taking in Tokyo and a muted finish on Wall Street as investors absorbed bad news about Europe’s debt problems and the U.S. economy.

Stock markets hovered in a narrow range as investors found little reason to drive the market in a definitive direction. Worries about Spain’s debt problems and weaker-than-expected U.S. housing data weighed on sentiment, while Chinese shares advanced after a three-day holiday.

Oil prices, meanwhile, fell below $77 a barrel as investor confidence wanes that a three-week rally will continue amid signs of weak U.S. crude demand. The dollar fell against the yen and gained versus the euro.

As European trading got underway, Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX shed 0.3 percent and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.1 percent. Futures pointed to modest losses on Wall Street with Dow futures off 35 points, or 0.3 percent, at 10,368.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 67.75 points, or 0.7 percent, to 9,999.40 as investors moved to lock in gains from Wednesday’s 1.8 percent jump, when the index finished above the key 10,000 level for the first time in almost a month.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 percent to 4,527.30 as miners retreated. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.4 percent to 2,575.30 with investors holding back ahead of the launch of Agricultural Bank of China’s mammoth share listing, after a five-day closure for public holidays.

Benchmarks in Singapore and New Zealand were also in negative territory.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 percent to 20,138.40. Stocks in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea rose as well.

Overnight in New York, the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.05 percent to 10,409.46 after BP’s agreement to put $20 billion into a fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill lifted the stock market off lows. The market began the day by falling on news that home construction and applications for building permits slumped in May.

Spain’s financial problems also led to fresh hand-wringing. The country’s borrowing costs leapt Wednesday, a day after the European Union said Spain would have to make more spending cuts to cut its deficit.

The S&P 500 fell 0.06 percent to 1,114.61, and the Nasdaq crept up 0.05 percent to 2,305.93.

In currencies, the dollar weakened to 91.18 yen from 91.37 yen late Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.2281 from $1.2299.

Benchmark crude for July delivery was down 79 cents at $76.88 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 73 cents to settle at $77.67 on Wednesday.