World stock markets muted ahead of 4Q economic growth figures from US

BANGKOK - World stocks faced multiple headwinds Friday after disappointing Japanese earnings, higher unemployment in Spain and weak U.S. home sales. Investors awaited quarterly growth figures from the U.S. later in the day.

Benchmark oil hovered below $100 per barrel while the dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

European shares headed lower as the latest data from Spain, which already has the highest unemployment rate among the 17 nations that use the euro, showed more than 5 million people without jobs. The National Statistics Institute said the jobless rate shot up from 21.5 per cent to 22.8 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.3 per cent to 5,775.29. Germany's DAX was off 0.1 per cent to 6,531.89 and France's CAC-40 lost 0.4 per cent to 3,349.82. Wall Street appeared set to open in negative territory, with Dow Jones industrial futures down marginally to 12,679 and S&P 500 futures falling less than 0.1 per cent at 1,214.50.

Asian stock markets closed mostly higher, ahead of the release of fourth quarter U.S. economic growth figures. Economists predict growth will strengthen to around 3 per cent in the October-December quarter from about 2 per cent in the third quarter. Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said the reading was expected to "look healthy."

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 per cent to close at 8,841.22.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 per cent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 per cent to 20,501.67, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 per cent to 4,288.40.

Attention was also focused on the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its bailout rescuers — other countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund — are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value and interest rate.

The two sides have so far disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take.

In the U.S., stocks slipped Thursday after the government reported an unexpected drop in new home sales in December, capping the worst year for home sales since record-keeping began in 1963. But there were some bright spots. Orders to factories for long-lasting manufactured goods increased in December for the second straight month, and a key measure of business investment rose solidly.

Japanese exporters continued to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of repatriated profits. Honda Motor Corp. slid 1.9 per cent and Panasonic Corp. shed 2.3 per cent. Fujitsu Ltd. plunged 3.5 per cent.

Nintendo Corp., the Japanese gaming giant behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games, plummeted 4.1 per cent, a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss. The company blamed the strong yen for much of the loss.

Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. plummeted 7.1 per cent after announcing Thursday that it was slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide and would slide into the red for the full year.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 11 cents to $99.60 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3107 from $1.3104 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.05 yen from 77.49 yen.