The dollar briefly trimmed losses versus the yen

The European equities like the FTSE,CAC and DAX ended up lower after gains in the past two sessions, with data showing the pace of business expansion moderating in China prompting investors to trade cautiously. Energy shares featured among the top decliners as crude oil prices fell 0.4 percent ahead of the weekly US oil inventory data.Koen De Leus, strategist at KBC Securities, in Brussels said: "Trading volumes are quite low, so I will not read too much in these moves. A fall in HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index probably has caused a little bit of worry of some slowdown in China and prompted investors take some money off the table."rnThe dollar briefly trimmed losses versus the yen on Thursday after data showed a larger-than-expected drop in US initial jobless claims.The dollar traded at 81.62.rnThe Oil prices ended up the day on a steady note OPEC output has risen slightly in December as Nigerian supply has increased, indicating the group has yet to boost production substantially in response to prices at a 26-month high.Christophe Barret, an oil analyst at Credit Agricole who expects OPEC will need to boost supplies in 2011 said: "Until now, production was adequate to meet demand. The market is well supplied and there is no shortage," said an OPEC delegate, who declined to be identified by name. Our only concern is the price, how high it will rngo."rnGold prices was seen flat but prices are still on track to post their biggest yearly rise in three years for a record 10th consecutive annual gain on uncertainty about economic recovery and currencies.Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader of Integrated Brokerage Services in Chicago said: "The economy is still on life support,and it's only moving forward based on the stimulus and Fed's action. In absence of those, we would still be down on recession." rnThe Wall Street ended up the day on a low note as a trio of better-than-expected economic data wasn't enough to entice buyers to take on much risk in a market sitting on strong gains just before the new year.Reports on the labor market, business activity and housing all showed surprising strength.Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio said: "The numbers were very strong this morning, but people are becoming more cautious since it's the end of the year, especially since we've already had a great run."rnJapanese market especially the Nikkei saw a bad day and stocks ended on a sour note, pressured by profit-taking as the yen advanced to a fresh seven-week high against the dollar. Japanese financial markets will be closed from Friday for the year-end break and reopen next Tuesday.asaru Hamasaki, a senior strategist at Toyota Asset Management said: "Today's move very much symbolizes the trend of the year as the fluctuation of the yen basically drove Japanese stocks." rnGerman 10-year bunds closed on a higher note as the fiscal crisis that roiled the euro area’s most-indebted nations drove investors to the safest fixed-income assets in the region.Orlando Green, assistant director of capital-markets strategy at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in London said: “There has been a rnflight-to-quality and Europe has been divided between the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots are clearly the likes of Greece and Ireland, and they needed to be bailed out. The risk going into next year is that this domino effect could continue.”