US stock market closes flat, indices post weekly gains

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The US stock market closed Friday flat, except the Nasdaq having a decline, but indices posted weekly gains.

The Dow Jones was down 8 points, or 0.03%, to 34,746, while the S&P 500 also fell 8, or 0.19%, to 4,391. They, however, added 1.22% and 0.78% this week.

The Nasdaq decreased 74, or 0.51%, to 14,579; but the tech-heavy index rose 0.08% for the week.

Investors had a mixed sentiment on Friday as the Labor Department data showed that US economy added only 194,000 jobs in September, way below the market estimate of 500,000.

While labor market remains persistently weak, it prolongs full recovery for the world's largest economy, creating bearish sentiment for the markets.

The weak payrolls, however, also increases the possibility of the Federal Reserve delaying tapering -- the process of cutting back its monthly $120 billion asset purchases.

Oil prices, on the other hand, were hovering around their highest level in three years.

Price of US crude oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Friday climbed above $80 per barrel for the first time in seven years, hitting a daily high of $80.11 -- highest since Nov. 3, 2014.

The price of Brent crude saw as high as $83.42 on Friday.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, declined 3.9% to 18.77. The dollar index fell 0.12% to 94.11.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes increased 2.7% to 1.614%.

Precious metals increased with gold adding 0.06% to $1,756 per ounce, and silver added 0.17% to $22.64.