GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares slip in low-volume market; safe-havens rise
* Euro near 2-1/2 year low
* Oil near recent lows, copper ticks higher
* Yen rallies, Nikkei drops
* Greek bond yields steady after angst over early poll
(Updates prices)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 30 (Reuters) - A wave of risk aversion swept
through global markets on Tuesday, with light volume magnifying
moves, as end-of-year trades focused on worries about Greece's
future in the euro zone, pushing shares lower and lifting the
safe-haven yen, silver and gold.
Oil prices hit new 5-1/2 year lows , while
copper rose for the first session in five, a day after hitting a
4-1/2 year low.
The Greek government collapsed Monday, setting the stage for
elections in four weeks that are likely to be a referendum on
painful austerity policies.
Stocks on Wall Street were lower but just off the S&P 500's
latest record high hit Monday. The benchmark index is on track
to close a third straight year of double-digit positive returns.
An MSCI gauge of stocks in major markets
fell 0.6 percent, weighed by a 1.6 percent drop in Tokyo's
Nikkei for its final session of 2014. European shares
closed down 1 percent.
"Basically we just followed Europe, with Greece back into
the picture, but that is more of an excuse than anything else,"
said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global
Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) in New York.
"I really don't put too much into the decline today."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.6 points, or
0.27 percent, to 17,989.63, the S&P 500 lost 8.52 points,
or 0.41 percent, to 2,082.05 and the Nasdaq Composite
dropped 25.54 points, or 0.53 percent, to 4,781.37.
The thinly traded market, particularly in Europe, triggered
a "magnified reaction to headlines from Greece" according to
Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers
Harriman Private Banking in New York.
Greece's 10-year bond yield, a proxy of the
government's borrowing costs, ticked lower after a sharp move
higher on Monday. The left-wing Syriza party, which could win a
snap election next month, has said it wants to abandon many
drastic spending cuts that are part of a European Union and
International Monetary Fund bailout program.
The weaker stocks helped push U.S. Treasuries prices higher,
with some lingering concern over Greece. The benchmark 10-year
U.S. Treasury note was up 5/32, the yield down to
2.1915 percent.
"We're trading with equities at the moment," said Ira
Jersey, an interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - news) in New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news)
York. But "a lot of times when you get these moves in very thin
volumes they reverse once you get some liquidity."
The euro held just above a 2-1/2 year low at $1.2151
as more lackluster bank lending data and fresh evidence of
deflation taking hold in Spain and Italy bolstered the case for
further monetary easing from the European Central Bank.
The yen gained 0.9 percent against both the dollar
and euro as investors sought the traditional safety
of the Japanese currency.
Oil prices, another focus for world markets of late, pared
losses in volatile trading after earlier extending lows not seen
since May 2009. Brent was down 0.5 percent at $57.61
after having hit $56.74 earlier. U.S. crude edged up 0.3
percent to $53.77 a barrel.
The two main crude market movers today were oversupply from
the world's oil producers and a weaker U.S. dollar, said Brian
LaRose, a technical analyst with United-ICAP (LSE: IAP.L - news) .
But a "significant catalyst" is needed to prompt buying, and
LaRose said that has been absent. "Until we see some sort of
technical evidence developing, then one has to be skeptical of
picking a bottom," he said.
Spot gold rose 1.3 percent while silver added
2.7 percent. Copper bounced from a 4-1/2 year low to
gain 0.6 percent at $6,325 a ton.
(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Samantha Sunne,
Karen Brettell and Sam Forgione; Editing by Dan Grebler,
Christian Plumb and Meredith Mazzilli)