PARIS: The Dow flirted with 20,000 points once again on Tuesday, while a plunge in the share price of Toshiba caused ripples in otherwise placid trading.
In early trading it came as close as 20 points, but even positive consumer confidence and robust housing price data failed to give the the Dow enough of a push.
The blue-chip index has been within striking distance of the 20,000 landmark since mid-December, but has so far failed to cross the line.
Some analysts believe it could drift above 20,000 in the post-Christmas period, when trade volume is light.
"Markets are calm, as thin holiday volumes are in play," said market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at London Capital Group.
US stocks have been pushing into record territory following the surprise US election victory of Donald Trump, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite striking Tuesday an intraday record high of 5,511.47 points.
"The financial markets seem to have already priced in expectations toward a Trump presidency, and are shifting toward a market that's waiting to gauge his actual policies," Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.
However a 12-percent meltdown in Toshiba shares on speculation it may book a multi-billion-dollar loss over a US subsidiary's acquisition of a nuclear power service company livened up trading in Tokyo, which nevertheless snapped a three-day decline.
After trading closed, the Tokyo-based conglomerate confirmed that costs linked to the 2015 transaction will possibly come to "several billion US dollars, resulting in a negative impact on Toshiba's financial results".
The exact extent of the potential one-time write-down, however, is "still subject to determination," it added.
Toshiba said the possible write-down was related to the valuation of the purchase by its US subsidiary Westinghouse Electric of a US nuclear service company.
- Italy bank bailout -
In Europe, Frankfurt and Paris scraped out gains in thin trading while London remained shut over the Christmas holiday period.
With little news to guide them, European investors were nervously eyeing the latest developments in Italy after troubled lender Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) said the European Central Bank said it needed a bailout of 8.8 billion euros ($9.2 billion).
The ECB's reported need for recapitalisation at BMPS is over three billion euros more than previously judged necessary.
"The news of the day is about Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena," Daniel Larrouturou at Diamant Bleu Gestion in Paris told AFP.
He said the higher bailout sum could "weigh heavily on BMPS, whose shares are currently suspended, and possibly on the banking sector".
Most Italian banking shares fell, but Milan's FTSE-Mib index nevertheless managed to climb 0.2 percent.
Italy on Friday approved a state-funded rescue of Tuscan lender BMPS without citing a specific figure. The move however is fraught with political and economic complications for a centre-left government preparing for an election in the next 15 months.
- Oil advances -
Crude added to its recent gains.
Prices have been boosted after OPEC announced at the end of last month its members would slash output by 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January.
Earlier in December, non-OPEC members approved cuts totalling 558,000 barrels per day.
However, analysts sounded a note of caution.
"Questions remain on whether the rally will continue because unless there are new bullish items, the market may see more uncertainties in the long term," said Will Yun, a Seoul-based commodities analyst at Hyundai Futures Corp, according to Bloomberg.
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.2 percent at 11,472.24 points
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 4,848.28
London - FTSE 100: Closed for holiday
Milan - FTSE MIB: UP 0.2 at 19,390.83
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.1 percent at 3,278.18
New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 19,974.69
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 2,271.01
New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.7 percent at 5,499.88
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.03 percent at 19,403.06 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.25 percent at 3,114.66 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.28 percent at 21,574.76 (Friday close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0462 from $1.0464
Dollar/yen: UP at 117.58 yen from 117.14 yen
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2251 from $1.2279
Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 64 cents at $53.66 per barrel
Oil - Brent North Sea: 59 cents at $55.75
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