NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks took cold comfort Friday from falling oil prices as equities tumbled to their first losing year since 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average was off 67.32 or 0.62 percent to 10,717.50 on a volume of 643.8 million shares. That leaves the average down 0.61 percent for the year. Assuming an average yield of 2.4 percent, the average's total return was less than 2 percent.

The Nasdaq composite slid 12.84 or 0.58 percent to 2,205.32, and the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.13 or 0.49 percent to 1,248.29.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost 7/32, or $2.19 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.393 percent.

The dollar fell to 117.69 yen from 117.83, but the euro eased to $1.1798 from $1.1847.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at 16,111.43 after sliding 232.77 or 1.42 percent, and London's FTSE 100 slid 19.50 or 0.35 percent to settle at 5,618.80.

Russia prepares to cut gas to Europe

MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Ukraine and Europe braced for Russia to cut off natural gas this weekend after Kiev rejected a nearly five-fold increase in the commodity's price.

Moscow-controlled OAO Gazprom informed Ukraine recently that the cost of its natural gas, which is piped into Ukraine on its way to western Europe, will rise Sunday from $50 per 1,000 cubic meters, a price still paid by Kremlin-compliant Belarus, to $230, The New York Times said.

Ukrainian President Viktor A. Yushchenko agreed to pay more but said his young democracy cannot immediately afford such a dramatic price hike. He appealed Friday to Gazprom to keep talking about how to bring his nation's fuel bill gradually into line with those paid by Western European countries, instead of shutting down the pipeline that feeds Ukraine and Western Europe.

But Gazprom said no and invited TV crews to film it Sunday cutting off gas to Ukraine.

Besides diplomatic options, Ukraine also could use gas in storage or raise revenues by increasing the rent it charges the Kremlin for the use of a strategic Black Sea port, Russia's only warm-water port.

Analysis: Rich get richer, but so do poor

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The rich may be getting richer but today's poor, at least in the United States, have far more luxury items than any previous generation of poor ever had.

The Census Bureau reports the rich-poor gap in lifestyles has narrowed substantially since 1992 -- at least when measured empirically by possession of tangible items once considered luxuries, the Christian Science Monitor said Friday.

For example, two-thirds of U.S. residents in poverty had air conditioners in 1998, up from 50 percent in 1992, the bureau said. The actual number of poor who today have air conditioning is most likely higher than two-thirds because of wealth creation since 1998.

"In terms of the items people have ... it amazes me the number of people who are at or near the poverty line that have color TVs, cable, washer, dryer, microwave," said Michael Cosgrove, an economist at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.

That's not to ignore the hardships of poverty, he added, "but the conveniences they have are in fact pretty good."

Libya welcomes big U.S. oil companies

TRIPOLI, Libya, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Three big U.S. energy companies are back in Libya after a two-decade absence from the oil-rich nation.

ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE:MRO), both of Houston, and Amerada Hess (NYSE:AHC) Corp. of New York will pay a combined $1.83 billion to resume finding and producing hydrocarbons in North Africa, the companies said Friday.

ConocoPhillips and Marathon each have a 16.33-percent stake in the Waha concession, Amerada Hess holds an 8.16-percent interest and Libyan National Oil Corp. owns the remaining 59.16 percent.

Based on their respective interests in the concession, which now produces about 350,000 barrels of oil per day, the three U.S. companies are paying various "re-entry" and "unamortized investment" fees that total $1.83 billion to Tripoli.

"We are pleased to be rejoining our longtime friends at the Libyan National Oil Corp. and the Waha operating company," said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon's chief executive.

"We look forward to assisting in the further exploration and development of Waha's significant oil and gas resources, improving productivity from the existing fields and to providing gas supplies for the Libyan economy and for export."

China letting foreigners handle yuan trade

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- China has approved 13 domestic and foreign banks to act as market-makers for trading in its currency.

Those selected institutions will begin facilitating trades in the yuan early next year, perhaps next week, the BBC said Friday.

Among those selected are Citigroup, HSBC, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered.

Tokyo stocks up more than 40 percent in '05

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Japanese stocks ended the year triumphantly Friday, as the Nikkei 225 locked in yearly gains of 40.24 percent, its best performance since 1986.

As well as Japanese stocks have done this year, their performance pales in comparison to natural gas, up more than 80 percent on the futures market this year.

Other major foreign exchanges did well, too. British stocks were up for the third straight year with London's benchmark FTSE 100 ending 2005 higher by 16.7 percent, which is just below 1999's 17.8-percent gain, the index's record.

The world's best stock index was in a smaller, emerging market, Turkey's Istanbul IMKB-100, which soared 59 percent.

Then there was New York. The world's largest exchange posted record volumes and exactly nothing else. The Dow Jones industrial average closed out the year down 0.61 percent. Given an average 2.3-percent yield, total return on the Dow industrials was less than 2 percent.

Despite that, the NYSE was not the world's worst stock market. That distinction goes to the Caracas Stock Exchange, which plummeted as investors fled the consequences of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' wealth-redistribution policies.