HONG KONG, Dec 24, (Agencies): World stock markets fell in light trading Friday, led lower by automakers after officials in China, the world’s biggest auto market, announced plans to sharply limit new vehicle registrations in traffic-congested Beijing. Trading was light in Europe and Asia with some markets closed or only open for a half-day on Christmas Eve. Chinese carmakers led the decline. Dongfeng Motor Group., which operates a joint venture with Nissan Motor Co, tumbled 7.9 percent on the Hong Kong exchange. Geely Automobile Holdings, which bought Sweden’s Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co earlier this year and is also listed in Hong Kong, dropped 6 percent. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, which has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen, fell 2.3 percent in Shanghai.

Korean and Japanese automakers also lost ground. Hyundai Motor Co fell 2.2 percent. Nissan, Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp also dipped.
“Carmakers have had a good past year or two,” said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Securities. But now, auto sales “have created a lot of social problems, such as air pollution and traffic congestion, so I think government policy is less friendly than before.”
China’s government has been pushing the auto industry as a key growth sector, but now it’s grappling with social problems that come with heavy car ownership.
The Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.6 percent to 10,279.19, reopening after a national holiday Thursday. A stronger yen weighed on Japanese exporters, with Sony Corp off 0.4 percent. The dollar was trading under the 83-yen line on Friday.

Sentiment was lackluster across the region as many markets around the world headed into the Christmas holidays.
“Investors prefer to stay on the sidelines for the time being, waiting for fund managers to come back from holidays in the beginning of next year,” Kwong said.
Trading in China was also weak because of fears that the government would announce further tightening policies over the holiday weekend aimed at easing rising prices that threaten to upset economic stability.
“Investors withdrew cash from the market as they are still worried the government would take more actions to curb inflation at the year’s end,” said Peng Yunliang, an analyst at Shanghai Securities, in Shanghai.
Key indexes in Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan also retreated, while those in India and Singapore advanced.
In currencies, the dollar was trading at 82.94 yen from 82.95 late Thursday. The euro stood at $1.3137 from $1.3114.
Benchmark oil for February delivery rose $1.03 to settle at $91.51 as the positive US economic news helped push up the price to its highest level in more than two years.

Europe
British stocks closed above the psychological 6,000-point level for the first time in 30 months on Friday in a Santa rally on a shortened Christmas Eve trading session.
London’s FTSE 100 index of top shares rose 0.21 percent to close at 6,008.92 points, returning to territory last visited in June 2008.
In Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.28 percent to 3,900.39 points, but is still showing its best monthly performance in a decade with a gain of eight percent.
“The prolonged Santa rally has left the market looking strong ahead of the holidays and there is still the potential for further gains before the end of the year, with post-Christmas trading sometimes producing exaggerated moves due to thin volumes,” said IG Index Chief Market Strategist David Jones.
Elsewhere in Europe on Friday, Lisbon gained 0.04 percent, while Amsterdam slipped 0.08 percent and Brussels dropped 0.38 percent.

Frankfurt had shut Thursday, with the DAX 30 ending 0.15 percent lower at 7,057.69 in its final trading session before the Christmas break.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones index ended Thursday at its highest closing level since August 2008, on a wave of positive economic data.
Earlier in the week, meanwhile, the German market hit its highest level since May 2008, before the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, in a rally that was rooted in optimism over solid company results.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson told AFP that investors took recent multi-year peaks in their stride, amid questions over the Chinese economy, the eurozone debt crisis and deficit-slashing austerity measures.
Traders remain cautious over outlook for the world economy which is still struggling with the aftermath of the bitter global financial crisis.
New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.12 percent to close at 11,573.49 points — hitting its highest closing level since August 2008.
Asia
Asian stock markets fell in light trading Friday, with a stronger yen weighing on exporters in Japan.
The Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.7 percent to 10,272.96, reopening after a national holiday Thursday. The dollar fell under the 83-yen line overnight and was trading around the 83-yen level.
Honda Motor Co lost 0.8 percent, while Sony Corp was off 0.4 percent.
Sentiment was lackluster across the region as many markets around the world headed into the Christmas holidays.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 percent to 22,827.56, the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.7 percent to 2,834.28 and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.1 percent to 2,035.20.
Korean automakers lost ground, with Hyundai Motor Co tumbling 2.2 percent.
Benchmarks in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan also retreated.

Oil
Oil hovered around its highest levels in more than two years on Friday, supported by cold weather across the globe, appetite for risk assets and signals from OPEC it would not arrest the rally.
European benchmark ICE Brent crude for February closed 48 cents down at $93.46 on Friday after hitting $94.74 a barrel, its highest level since October 2008.
Global benchmark US crude futures, which hit a 26-month high of $91.63 on Thursday, did not trade on Friday with the NYMEX floor closed for the Christmas holiday.
Brent, trading at a premium to US crude, has surged partly due to a severe cold snap in continental Europe and Britain.
Heavy snow stranded thousands of Christmas travellers in Europe on Friday, threatening to prolong chaos at airlines and rail networks and further boost fuel demand.
Analysts said oil could continue its rally on strong global demand and falling inventories in 2011, which promises to be a strong year for risk assets as confidence about the global economic recovery picks up.
The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index closed on Thursday at its highest level since October 2008.
“With the continuous commodity Index posting new all time highs and the S&P rising on supportive breadth, it is difficult not to maintain our bullish commodity and equity outlook heading into the first quarter of 2011,” Barclays Capital said in a note.
“The latest surge has brought $100 per barrel within range for Brent crude in particular”.
OPEC’s most influential oil minister, Saudi Arabia’s Ali al-Naimi, said on Friday he was still happy with an oil price of $70-$80 per barrel and there was no need for an extra OPEC meeting before the next scheduled one in June.
Arab OPEC ministers are meeting in the Egyptian capital this weekend where they are expected to discuss oil production and prices, but no formal decision on output will take place.

Credit markets
Treasury prices fell again Thursday after the government said it will sell $99 billion in long-term bonds next week, adding more supply to the market.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note fell 28.1 cents per $100 invested. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 3.39 percent from 3.35 percent late Wednesday.
The Treasury Department said Thursday it will auction $35 billion in two-year notes on Monday, $35 billion in five-year notes on Tuesday and $29 billion in seven-year notes on Wednesday.
Trading is light this week because of the Christmas holiday. Bond trading ended at 2 pm Thursday and will be closed Friday.
Treasury yields have been rising since early November as investors raise their expectations for economic growth and inflation.
On Thursday, government figures showed small improvements in consumer spending and the job market. Orders for manufactured goods, excluding the transportation industry, increased by the biggest amount in eight months.
In other trading, the 30-year bond fell 31.3 cents, increasing the yield to 4.47 percent from 4.45 percent the day before. The yield on the two-year Treasury note rose to 0.67 percent from 0.64 percent.
The yield on the three-month Treasury bill was unchanged at 0.13 percent. Its discount was 0.14 percent.

Currencies
The dollar stayed in a narrow band in thin holiday trading on Christmas Eve Friday, with investors leaning toward the higher-yielding US currency, analysts said.
The dollar stood at 83.01 yen, up slightly from 82.91 yen in New York Thursday. The euro traded at 1.3127 dollars and at 108.99 yen, edging up from 1.3118 dollars and 108.83 yen in New York Thursday.
The dollar was generally buoyant as players preferred higher-yielding currencies, amid expected gains for US Treasury yields, Daiwa Institute of Research chief forex strategist Yuji Kameoka said in a note to clients.

But major market moves were seen as unlikely with many investors already on year-end holidays, analysts said.
Growing hopes for a US economic recovery were also encouraging investors to return to the dollar, analysts said.
The extension of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts in the United States should help consumer spending, boosting the recovery and supporting the dollar, Kameoka said.
But others speculated about a possible fall in the greenback after the unit gained steadily in recent days.
Continued fiscal debt worries in the eurozone spelled uncertainty going forward, said Yuichiro Harada, senior dealer at Mizuho Corporate Bank.

The market was becoming increasingly volatile due to the smaller number of players still active during the holiday season, he added.
The greenback lost ground against other Asian currencies.
It fell to 1.3022 Singapore dollars from 1.3053 on Thursday, to 44.02 Philippine pesos from 44.12, to 9,030.00 Indonesian rupiah from 9,038.00 and to 30.14 Thai baht from 30.15.
In London on Friday, the euro changed hands at $1.3128 against $1.3117 late in New York on Thursday, at 108.84 yen (108.79), 0.8496 pounds (0.8502) and 1.2617 Swiss francs (1.2576).
The dollar stood at 82.90 yen (82.94) and 0.9611 Swiss francs (0.9587).
The pound was at $1.5452 (1.5424).
Gold
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to $1,383.15 an ounce from $1,373.50 late on Thursday.