World markets: Wall Street eases to weekly loss

Stocks on Wall Street finished nearly unchanged to give the benchmark indexes their first weekly drop for September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 17.77 points, or 0.1%, to 13,579.

The S&P 500 index was down less a point to 1460.12, for its first weekly loss in three weeks.

Telecommunications shares rose while the financial and materials sectors lagged.

The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 4.00 points, or 0.1%, to 3179.96.

Other markets: Europe up, China at multi-year low
European stock markets moved higher amid speculation Spain may be setting the stage for a bailout request.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.5% to close at 275.78 and losing 0.1% over the week.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index swung between small gains and losses before closing slightly lower at 5,852.62. It gave up 1.1% over the week.

The German DAX 30 index closed up 0.8% at 7451.62 and rose 0.5% on the week.

The French CAC 40 index added 0.6% to 3530.72 but dropped 1.4% on a weekly basis.

Already at its lowest point in more than 3½ years, China's stock market suffered its worst week in nearly a year, losing 4.6%.

The Shanghai Composite Index was barely changed on Friday, up 0.1%, at 2026.69. On Thursday, it closed at its lowest point since February 2, 2009.

Commodities: Oil creeps higher
Crude-oil futures settled higher, rebounding from four straight losing sessions.

The gains came as the front-month contract switched to November futures. Light, sweet crude oil for November delivery rose 47USc, or 0.5%, to settle at $US92.89 a barrel in New York.

Currencies: Euro rises against greenback
The euro rose modestly against the US dollar, buoyed by reports that European officials may draft a rescue plan for Spain as soon as next week.

It was at $US1.2992, up from $US1.2968 late Thursday.

The dollar fell against the yen to ¥78.14 from ¥78.25.

The Australian dollar gained against the US dollar, trading at $US1.0452 from $US1.0435.

The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index dipped to 69.35 from 69.44 late on Thursday.