U.S. stock market indexes fell in Friday's trading after some disappointing economic reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped eight-tenths of a percent to close at 12,151. The S&P was off one percent to finish at 1,300 while the NASDAQ slid 1.5 percent to hit 2,733.

European stock markets were up at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained one-tenth of a percent to end at 5,855. The CAC-40 in Paris edged up less than one-tenth of a percent to finish at 3,891 while the DAX in Frankfurt moved up half a percent to hit 7,109.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost two-thirds of a percent , to close at 9,492. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.3 percent , to end at 22,950.

The price of gold rose more than $7 to trade at $1,541.35 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.