US stocks finish flat in very light trading

Stocks finished essentially flat in New York in very light post-Thanksgiving trading, as the market struggled to find direction…

Stocks finished essentially flat in New York in very light post-Thanksgiving trading, as the market struggled to find direction in an absence of economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.89, or 0.03 per cent, at 9,782.46. That followed Wednesday's gain of 15.63 points.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 6.95, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,960.26, after gaining 12.33 points in the previous session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished the day down 0.25 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 1,058.20, following a gain of 1.83 points on Wednesday.

The rise in stocks followed four consecutive sessions of gains on Wall Street, capped by modest increases on Wednesday, the last trading day before the holiday. With most traders and investors taking the day off, the stock market closed at 1.00 p.m.

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Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell 41 cents to 49.29, following the company's announcement yesterday that it had suspended trials of an anaemia drug, Procrit, because some patients had developed blood clotting.

On the day regarded as the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, shares of Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, fell 6 cents to 55.24.

Pharmaceutical maker Schering-Plough saw its shares rise 69 cents to 16.07 after the company said its chairman and CEO, Mr Fred Hassan, had bought 4.7 million of its stock.

AP