Oil, shares tumble as US jobless claims rise

Oil dropped below $US100 a barrel and stocks on Wall Street tumbled for a fourth day after unexpected rise in US weekly jobless claims.

Oil's plunge of more than $US9 a barrel in New York was triggered by a sharp drop in silver futures, which fell 8% to $US36.240 an ounce, and a rise in the US dollar.

Demand for oil was also seen as sluggish with the US economy showing few signs of growth. New claims for unemployment surged to 474,000, the highest level since last August and well above analysts' expectations.

At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 139.41 points, or 1.1%, at 12,584.17, weighed down by Exxon Mobil, which fell 2.6%, and Chevron, which fell 2.0%. The broader S&P 500 index was down 0.9% to 1335.10..

The technology sector initially rose after better-than-expected earnings from companies including JDS Uniphase, Electronic Arts and BMC Software. But the Nasdaq Composite was caught up in the general slide and finished down 0.5% at 2814.72.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia mixed
European stock markets fell, dragged down by a weakened financial sector amid disappointing earnings from Lloyds Banking Group and Société Générale.

The Stoxx Europe 600 closed down 0.3% at 277.79. The UK's FTSE 100 index lost 1.1% to 5919.98, Germany's DAX index was nearly flat at 7376.96 and France's CAC-40 index dropped 0.9% at 4004.87.

Asian shares ended mixed with many commodity plays around the region declining. Indian stocks headed for their ninth straight session of losses.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.2% to 23,261.61, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 2872.40 and India's Sensex slid 1.4% to 18,210.58.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% to 4753.70 and Taiwan's Taiex advanced 0.8% to 9018.61. Markets in Japan, Korea and Thailand were shut for public holidays.

Commodities: Oil, gold fall
The light, sweet crude futures contract for June delivery shed $US9.44, or 8.6%, to $99.80 a barrel, the lowest settlement since March 16.

Brent crude in the ICE futures exchange lost $US10.39, or 8.6%, to $US110.80 a barrel.

Gold prices slumped below $US1500 an ounce for the first time in six days. The contract for May delivery was down $US34, or 2.2%, at $US1480.90.

Currencies: Yen surges, euro plunges
The yen surged to its strongest level against the US dollar since the intervention to stop the yen’s rise two months ago.

The dollar fell to ¥79.57 before retracing some its losses as the euro and commodity markets slid.

The euro fell more than 2% against the dollar. This was the euro’s biggest daily decline in percentage terms since August 2010.

The euro was at $US1.4518 from $US1.4832 late on Wednesday. The dollar traded at ¥80.03 from ¥80.57, and the euro bought ¥116.16 from ¥119.50.

The dollar traded at 0.8703 Swiss franc from 0.8618 franc, and the UK pound fetched $US1.6372 from $US1.6503.