NEW YORK, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- European stock indexes were down Friday following a mixed day in Asia after a European regulator banned stock short sales and before a U.S. retail sales report.
British, German and French stock indexes slipped about 1 percent in early-morning trading following a tepid Asian-Pacific day, initially boosted by Thursday's positive reading of weekly U.S. jobless claims, which fell to their lowest level in four months.
In late-afternoon trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was down more than 0.2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up about 1 percent and Seoul's Korea Composite Stock Price Index was flat.
Australia's Standard & Poor's/ASX 200 was down about 0.5 percent and New Zealand's NZX 50 was up about 1.5 percent.
Oil fell more than $1 below $85 a barrel. Crude was almost $115 a barrel in May.
The price of gold -- considered a safe haven at times of uncertainty -- rose more than $17 to about $1,768 a troy ounce.
The euro was lower against the U.S. dollar following Thursday night's decision by the European Securities and Markets Authority to ban short-selling of financial shares in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
Some investors took the 15-day ban as another sign of severe stress in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported.
French financial firms have been roiled by rumors France's credit rating was going to be downgraded. Greece, Turkey and South Korea already curb short-sales amid the recent global market volatility.
The Japanese yen rose against the dollar, even after Japan's government Friday cut its economic growth forecast to 0.5 percent this fiscal year from 1.5 percent, citing the effects of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
On Wall Street, Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 89 points, or 8 percent, in pre-market trading ahead of the opening bell. S&P 500-stock index futures were down 11 points, or slightly more than 1 percent. NASDAQ composite futures were down 21 points, also slightly more than 1 percent.
The Dow rose 423.37, or 3.95 percent, Thursday to close at 11,143.31, The S&P closed up 51.88 points, or 4.6 percent, at 1,172.64. And the NASDAQ climbed 4.7 percent to close at 2,492.68 after a gain of 111.63.
The U.S. Commerce Department was to report July U.S. retail sales figures at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists estimated sales increases would range from 0.1 percent to 1.5 percent.
