Australia

Australian shares are set to open lower, after major US stock indexes slipped off their record highs on Thursday.

ASX futures were down 0.23% or 20 points as of 8:30am on Friday, suggesting a lower open.

US stocks retreated from Wednesday's record highs as investors await Friday's monthly payrolls report for November.

Bitcoin spent much of the day trading in six-figure territory, after President-elect Donald Trump picked Paul Atkins to run the SEC. The conservative lawyer has questioned the crackdown on cryptocurrency firms.

Consumer discretionary stocks continued to outperform, while technology and communication services sector gave back some recent gains. American Airlines jumped 17% after it picked Citi as its sole credit-card provider.

DJIA fell 248 points, or 0.6%, to 44,765, the S&P 500 lost 0.2% to 6,075 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.2% to 19,700.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.1% to US$72.25 a barrel, while gold was down 0.7% to US$2,631.48.

The Australian dollar was at 64.48 US cents, up from its previous close of 64.27.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1% to 3,368.86, and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.7% to 2,039.31.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 0.9% to 19,560.44.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.3% to 39,395.60.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX increased 1.0% to 81,765.86.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2% to 8,349.38.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX added 0.6% to 20,358.80, and France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 7,330.54.

North America

US stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 0.6% to 44,765.71, the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% to 6,075.11, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.2% to 19,700.26.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Brown-Forman Corp BF.B, surging 10.73%, Tesla Inc TSLA jumped 3.20%, and United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL lifted 3.16%.

The biggest decliners were Synopsys Inc SNPS which dropped 12.55%, Uber Technologies Inc UBER fell 9.28%, and Cadence Design Systems Inc CDNS lost 6.42%.