NEW YORK, April 12: Global financial markets struggled Friday despite strong economic data from the United States, with no sign of a significant victory rally in the wake of the fall of the Iraqi regime.

The dollar nosed upwards, but stocks were mixed and oil prices drifted higher amid indications of fresh efforts to cut supplies.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrials closed down 17.92 points (0.22 per cent) at 8,203.41, ending the week with a modest loss.

The broad Standard and Poor’s P 500 closed down 3.28 points (0.38 per cent) at 868.30 and the Nasdaq composite shed 6.76 points (0.50 per cent) to 1,358.85.

Analysts said the market was hit by a technical sell-off coupled with concern about next week’s wave of first-quarter corporate earnings, which took the steam out of a rally sparked by a strong retail sales report and an improvement in consumer sentiment.

The reality of the earnings season is beginning to flow into the market a little more, said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of US equity group at Deutsche Bank.

Going into the weekend, all the good news on the war situation has been priced in to a large extent. The economy is not out of the woods yet in terms of the direction it is taking. It is still slowing.

Earlier, European stock markets were generally higher.

The British FTSE 100 index inched up 0.13 per cent to close at 3,808.10, the French CAC 40 index firmed 1.05 per cent to 2,838.14 and the German DAX 30 index added 1.37 per cent to finish at 2,733.95.

The DJ Euro Stoxx index of leading euro-zone shares rose 0.70 per cent to 2,272.93.

Asian markets were weaker, led by Japanese share prices that fell 2.1 per cent to a new two-decade low Friday, hit by fear about North Korea now that the Iraq war seems to be winding down and concern over the outbreak of a deadly pneumonia-like virus.

Stocks followed suit in Hong Kong, dropping 0.5 per cent.

Overall, there was no sign of a significant victory rally in the wake of the fall of the Iraqi regime, with dealers already turning their attention back to the outlook for world economies and company profits.

The market still has underlying concerns, said Nigel Richardson, strategist at AXA Investment Managers.

What we’re seeing here is not exactly an impressive rebound.—AFP