US stocks end off highs, Dow up for week

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (Reuters): Global equity markets ended higher on Friday but US stocks sharply pared gains after a late selloff in biotechnology shares, while euro zone government bond yields fell on renewed bets the European Central Bank (ECB) will ease policy next week.
The price of Brent crude oil closed above $108 a barrel for its first weekly rise in five, helped by data showing a rise in US consumer spending in February.
Gold fell to six-week lows of just above $1,285 an ounce, marking the second weekly decline as optimism on the US economy lifted the dollar and bolstered risk appetite.
On Wall Street, the Nasdaq biotechnology index slumped nearly 3 per cent drop. The biotech sector is down 7 per cent for the week and down about 13 per cent for the month.
Some analysts believe the selloff in "momentum" stocks has yet to run its course.
"Almost every day this week, we've been seeing a pattern of the market opening higher and then selling off towards the close," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research in Austin, Texas.
"Some are saying that it's the smart money is selling off at the end of the day. If we see that pattern again today, that would be concerning."
Among the biggest losers of the day were Gilead Science, which fell 4 per cent to $68.55, and Biogen Idec, which slumped 5 per cent to $294.12.
"The decline in biotech is part of the reallocation of capital as we near the end of the quarter. It seems like they are a bit out of favor right now, along with momentum stocks," said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist of TD Ameritrade in Chicago.
Stocks had rallied earlier on US data that was largely promising and signs that China will step in to support its cooling economy.
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 58.83 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 16,323.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.56 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 1,857.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 4.53 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 4,155.76.
Only the Dow ended the week slightly higher. For the week, the S&P slipped 0.5 per cent and the technology-laced Nasdaq tumbled 3 per cent, after heavy selling in the past few sessions of Internet stocks deemed overvalued.
US consumer spending rose 0.3 per cent in February, the Commerce Department said, after gaining 0.2 per cent in January. The gain matched economists' expectations.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dipped to 80.0 this month from 81.6 in February, a decline that did not faze investors. The index was little changed from earlier in March.
In China, Premier Li Keqiang's said the country, the world's No 2 economy, had necessary policies in place and would push ahead with infrastructure investment to shore up growth.
"This could avert a slowdown in China, and any stimulus that helps growth somewhere should help growth globally," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.
MSCI's all-country world index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.7 per cent, and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of regional European shares was up 0.7 per cent at 1331.67 points for a fourth straight day of gains.