Weekend markets: Dow falls most in year

Wall Street shock drop on Friday was the largest for the year but well short of the big daily moves of 2011.

The 89-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the 30th consecutive trading day without a triple-digit loss, the longest such streak in more than a year.

A new-year rally of six weeks has pushed up blue chips 4.8% this year and stumbled because of unexpected drop in a consumer-sentiment gauge and renewed fears of a Greek default.

Talks on a new austerity package are still unresolved and the Greek Parliament is meeting on Sunday to meet eurozone finance ministers’ demands of a settlement before a €130 billion aid package is released.

In the final trading session of the week, the Dow was down 89.23 points, or 0.7%, to 12801.23, though earlier it fell by as much as 147 points. It was down 0.5% for the week.

The S&P 500 lost 0.7% to 1342.64 for a decline of 0.2% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8% to end at 2903.88, down 0.1% for the week .

Other markets: Europe, Asia down
The Stoxx Europe 600 index shed 0.9% to end the week at 261.24. The benchmark dropped 1.3% over the week, its steepest weekly decline in two months.

Germany's DAX 30 index fell 1.4% to 6692.96 a day after closing at its highest level since August 2. The benchmark ended in the red for the week, snapping a string of seven weekly gains.

The French CAC 40 index declined 1.5% to 3373.14 and the UK FTSE 100 index shed 0.7% to 5852.39.

Most Asian markets closed lower last week. Korea's Kospi fell 1% to 1993.71, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.9% to 4245.3 and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average shed 0.6% to 8947.17.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.1% to 20783.86, while China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 2351.98.

Indian stocks made it to a sixth winning week although the Sensex fell 0.5% on Friday to end at 17,748.

Commodities: Oil, gold lower
Crude-oil futures fell as the International Energy Agency cut its estimates for global oil demand this year.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery settled $US1.17, or 1.2%, lower at $US98.67 a barrel in New York, ending the run of three-straight session of gains.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell $US1.22 to $US117.47 a barrel.

Gold futures were down 1.2% for the week, as market participants move to cash ahead of the weekend.

The most-actively traded contract, for April delivery, settled down $US15.90, or 0.9%, at $US1725.30 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro slides
The euro slid nearly 1% versus the US dollar and yen amid uncertainty over whether Greece's parliament would approve austerity measures necessary for a second bailout.

The euro was at $US1.3171 compared with $US1.3286 late on Thursday. The dollar was at ¥77.63 compared with ¥77.66, while the euro was at ¥102.25 from ¥103.18.

The UK pound traded at $US1.5736 compared with $US1.5818, while the dollar bought 0.9175 Swiss franc from 0.9118 franc.