The euro hit a three-week low against the dollar and global stock markets dipped today as Spain's debt burden fueled worries about further problems for euro zone economies and curtailed investors' appetite for riskier assets.
Safe-haven US Treasuries edged higher, along with gold prices.
Spanish 10-year government bond yields rose as high as 5.86 percent, dragging Italian rates in their wake as investors fled to the relative safety of German and US debt.
In Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 10.03 points, or 0.08 percent, at 13,064.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.31 points, or 0.02 percent, at 1,399.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.25 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3,071.34.
Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.1 percent, though banking stocks, many of which have large exposure to the region's lower-rated sovereign debt, edged lower.
Japan's Nikkei share average fell for a third straight day to four-week low, also hurt by renewed concerns about Europe's funding difficulties after a weak Spanish debt auction and by fading hopes for additional stimulus from the US Federal Reserve.
But the Nikkei is still up more than 15 percent this year, supported by liquidity boosting programmes from central banks and a run of strong US economic data, and strategists said that while the market was now decidedly more cautious, they do not expect a bear market relapse.
The benchmark Nikkei ended down 0.5 percent or 52.38 points at 9,767.61, after sliding more than 2 percent on Wednesday. The broader Topix index ended down 0.3 percent at 832.57.
