From: MORRISON SECURITIES PTY. LTD.

U.S. STOCK MARKETS:

U.S. stocks closed mostly flat Friday, punctuating the broader market's biggest weekly gain of the year in muted fashion after a soft reading on consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.14 points, or 0.15%, to 13232.62. Blue chips snapped a seven-session streak of gains, the Dow's longest winning run in 13 months.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 1.57 points, or 0.11%, to 1404.17, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.11 points, or 0.04%, to 3055.26.

Friday's activity capped the biggest weekly gains of the year for the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 on a point and percentage basis, and both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched weekly gains for the fifth-straight week. The Dow is up 8.3% this year. Stocks opened higher Friday but slipped into the red after the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index declined.

Elsewhere in U.S. economic data, consumer prices leapt in February, though slightly less than expected, and the rise was due almost entirely to a surge in gasoline prices. Meanwhile, industrial production was unchanged in February, but lower than expectations.

Energy and material stocks had the biggest percentage gains on the S&P 500, while consumer-discretionary and utility stocks lagged. Among blue chips, United Technologies slid 1.6%, while Bank of America surged 6.1%.

Apple gained one cent as its third-generation iPad hit stores Friday. In other corporate news, Sprint Nextel rose 3.2% after the company confirmed it will terminate a 15-year spectrum-hosting agreement with LightSquared.

Google rose 0.6% after The Wall Street Journal reported the Internet search company is being investigated by U.S. and European Union regulators for bypassing the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple's Safari Web browser. Dole Food climbed 12% after reporting its fourth-quarter loss narrowed as the fruit-and-vegetable producer continued to cut costs.

EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS

Most European stock markets closed with weekly gains, with a positive Friday session underpinned by the financial sector and mining shares, though disappointing U.S. consumer-sentiment data pulled equities off earlier highs.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.5% at 272.40, rising for a fourth consecutive day and ending the week with a 2.6% gain. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index added 0.4% to 5,965.58, France's CAC 40 index rose 0.4% to 3,594.83, and Germany's DAX 30 index gained 0.2% at 7,157.82.

Among the biggest gainers in the index, Norwegian oil-engineering group Subsea 7 SA climbed 5.3% after reporting a record backlog, and said it continues to see growth opportunities in all major markets.

Other energy-sector firms also posted gains. Tullow Oil PLC rose 3.9% in London after announcing it has successfully encountered oil offshore Ghana; BG Group rose 1.3% on the back of an increase in oil prices.

Mining stocks rose as well. Sector heavyweight Rio Tinto PLC advanced 0.9%, while Xstrata PLC added 1.8% and Anglo American PLC gained 1.4%.

Among financials, AXA SA added 1.9%, Societe Generale SA rose 2%, and Credit Agricole SA closed 1% higher in France. Veolia Environnement SA gained 5.1% in France after UBS upgraded its rating to neutral from sell.

Shares of Safran SA rose 3.9% as Goldman Sachs issued an upgrade to buy from neutral and added the firm to its conviction list. In Germany, shares of Porsche Automobil Holding SE fell 3.6% after Bernstein cut it to underperform from market-perform. Daimler AG was cut to market-perform from outperform and shed 2.5%. BMW AG declined 1% and Volkswagen AG lost 0.9%.

ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS

Asian stock markets ended mixed Friday as investors locked in profits before the weekend, though Japanese stocks rose narrowly to clinch a sixth straight week of gains as technology firms advanced, while Chinese shares rebounded on bargain-buying after two days of losses.

China's Shanghai Composite was the day's best performer among major markets, rising 1.3% after dropping in the previous two sessions. But the index still ended the week with a 1.4% decline.

South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.2% and Taiwan's Taiex gave up 0.8%. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.1% after seesawing between gains and losses.

Other than the Shanghai Composite, all the other indexes ended up during the week. Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.0%, the Kospi rose 0.8%, the Hang Seng Index added 1.1% and Taiex climbed 0.5%. Technology shares outperformed the broader market in Japan, with Advantest rising 3.1% and Tokyo Electron gaining 1.9%. But automakers declined, with Honda Motor slipping 0.6% and Toyota Motor losing 0.1%.

Hitachi advanced 2.5% after the company said Thursday it was hiking its fiscal-year profit outlook on strong proceeds from the sale of its hard-disk-drive unit.

In Hong Kong, China Mobile fell 1.1% after Macquarie downgraded the stock to neutral. China Overseas Land & Investment tumbled 4.7% after its chairman said Chinese property market conditions will be "more severe" in the first half of this year.

Merchandise supplier and logistics firm Li & Fung gained 2.7% amid an improving U.S. economic outlook. Energy shares in Hong Kong were weighed by a drop in crude-oil futures overnight. PetroChina lost 1.0% and Cnooc dropped 1.1% in Hong Kong.

COMMODITIES

Base metals closed mostly lower on the London Metal Exchange Friday after new U.S. data came in slightly weaker than expected, and worries over demand from top consumer China continued to weigh on sentiment.

LME three-month copper closed 0.7% lower at $8,505 a metric ton, while three-month zinc also ended down 0.7%, at $2,077/ton. Aluminum was the only base metal to close higher on the day.

Crude futures rebounded Friday as the euro gained against the dollar and amid a slightly higher DJIA, a day after speculation over a potential release of strategic oil reserves roiled energy markets.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled $1.95 higher at $107.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $3.22 higher at $125.82 a barrel.

Comex gold futures edged lower as a weaker dollar tempered worries about a potential import tariff increase by top gold consumer India. The most actively traded contract, for April delivery, fell $3.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,655.80 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.