European markets flat, Asia's lower

NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Ennui on Wall Street Thursday led to a lackluster Christmas Eve on European and Asian markets.

European stocks were largely unchanged at the close on thin volume while Asian markets were mostly lower, trading in narrow ranges. Without fresh data to analyze, traders mostly maintained positions. The markets were still ahead for the month on the annual Santa rally, positioned for further gains in the New Year.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 14 points or 12 percent at 11,573.49 Thursday while both the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broader Standard & Poor's average finished lower. U.S. equity markets were closed Friday.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index closed 0.2 percent higher at 6,008.92 and the CAC-40 in Paris was 0.3 percent lower at 3,899.00. Frankfurt was closed.

In Asia earlier, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.7 percent at 10,279.19, China's Shanghai composite index lost 0.7 percent at 2835.16 and the Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.3 percent at 22,833.80.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.5 percent.

Trading on currency markets was subdued with the euro flat against the dollar at $1.1135 from Thursday's $1.3116 and the dollar lower against the yen at 82.905 from Thursday's 82.94.