HONG KONG: World stock markets retreated on Thursday as mixed reports about the US economy dented confidence in the global turnaround. After most Asian markets racked up modest losses, European shares traded lower early going. The dollar edged up against the yen and the euro, while oil prices hovered near $83 a barrel. Investors were cautious after conflicting signs from the world's largest economy held US stock markets back overnight. One report pointed to marginal growth in the country's services industries in December. However, separate figures showed private sector companies slashed 84,000 jobs last month. The employment news, worse than expected, intensified concerns that a separate jobs report due out Friday could disappoint and suggested the US economy's recovery was losing steam. Traders are still working out the market's direction for 2010 given lingering risks, from anemic US growth to rising government debts in many parts of the world, said John Mar, co-head of sales trading, Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. ``There's still a lot of uncertainty globally,'' he said. ``A lot of investors are trying to get a sense of where the trade is and how to position themselves for the new year.'' As trade got under way in Europe. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.3 per cent, Germany's DAX was down 0.5 per cent France's CAC-40 dropped 0.7 per cent. Futures augured modest losses Thursday on Wall Street. S&P futures fell 3.4 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,129.60 and Dow futures were off 42, or 0.4 per cent, to 10,474. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 49.79, or 0.5 per cent, to 10,681.66, helped by a softer yen as Japan's new finance minister said the country's currency should be weaker. Analysts said the appointment, made after the former minister resigned due to health problems, had limited impact on the market with investors taking a wait-and-see stance.

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