U.S. markets post slim gains Friday

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- Slim gains on major U.S. stock markets held at the close Friday in spite of a drop of 7.7 percent in General Motors shares.

GM stock fell after Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner predicted sales in July would be close to results in June, when the company's U.S. sales fell more than 15 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported.

By close Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 21.41 points to 11,370.69, up 0.19 percent. The Nasdaq composite index rose 30.42 points to 2,310.53, up 1.33 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 5.22 points to 1,257.76, up 0.42 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,760 stocks advanced and 1,339 declined on a volume of 1.286 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropped 26/32 to yield 4.105 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5699 Friday compared to $1.5685 at close Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was at 107.90 from 107.25 Thursday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index closed down 268.55 points to 13,334.76, off 1.97 percent.

The FTSE 100 index in London lost 9.70 points Friday to 5,352.60, off 0.18 percent.