The major U.S. stock indexes fell in Thursday's trading after the head of the U.S. central bank testified in Washington. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers the bank does not have any plan to inject more stimulus into the economy in the near future.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid four-tenths of a percent to finish at 12,437. The S&P 500 index fell seven-tenths of a percent to close at 1,309 and the NASDAQ lost 1.2 percent to hit 2,763.

European stock prices closed lower. London's Financial Times index dropped 1 percent to finish at 5,847. The CAC-40 in Paris fell 1.1 percent to end at 3,751. And the DAX index in Frankfurt slipped seven-tenths of a percent to close at 7,215.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost nearly three-tenths of a percent to finish at 9,936. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained one-tenth of a percent to finish the day's trading at 21,940.

The price of gold rose to a record high price of $1,594.90 Thursday, before easing back to $1,586.90 an ounce.

The dollar traded higher against the yen and the euro.