Sawt Falasteen - US stocks finish gloomy week on positive note

US stocks, which have been under pressure in recent days, slipped into negative territory near midday following an extraordinary clash between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.

Following the stormy televised meeting with Trump, Zelensky left without a deal for joint development of his country's minerals resources that was to be part of a post-war recovery in a potential US-brokered truce.

But US stocks soon recovered, with major indices surging more than one percent. The late-day rally lifted the Dow into positive territory for the week while cutting losses for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

"It's normal when the market is oversold for it to bounce," said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments, noting that markets were also encouraged by US inflation data released earlier Friday that did not show an uptick in pricing pressures.

"Cooler heads" prevailed on trading desks after an initial sell-off following the Zelensky meeting as investors concluded there was no immediate market impact, Sarhan said.

Markets are also grappling with Trump's myriad tariff plans that are in various stages of execution.

Trump this week confirmed that 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada would be effective from March 4.

He also announced another 10 percent hike on Chinese goods would go into effect next week, and warned the European Union that it could be hit with 25 percent duties.

"The countdown to Trump's tariffs coming into force is now in the final few days and investors have got the jitters," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stock markets fell sharply Friday, with China hitting back, saying further US tariffs would "seriously impact dialogue" between the two countries on narcotics control -- Trump's stated reason to hike tariffs

In Europe, London posted a solid gain after Trump held out the prospect of a "great" trade deal with Britain after meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Thursday.

Eurozone stocks struggled for most of the day due to tariff concerns, but Paris ended the day with a small gain and Frankfurt flat.

Bitcoin dived below $80,000 on Friday for the first time since November.

"The crypto sector is suffering a bit of a meltdown today," said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.

He noted that another popular cryptocurrency, ethereum, had lost nearly half its value since mid-December.

"According to some analysts, that represents not just a correction, but a full-blown bear market," he added, noting that bitcoin had lost most of the gains made since Trump was elected in November.

Morrison said the gains were driven by hopes of a much friendlier regulatory environment, which have now unraveled to some extent.

- Key figures around 2150 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 43,840.91 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 1.6 percent at 5,954.50 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 18,847.28 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 8,809.74 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 8,111.63 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: FLAT at 22,551.43 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.9 percent at 37,155.50 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 3.3 percent at 22,941.32 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.9 percent at 3,370.52 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0375 from $1.0398 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2578 from $1.2601

Dollar/yen: UP at 150.59 from 149.81 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.48 pence from 82.51 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $69.66 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $72.74 per barrel

burs-jmb/wd

O.Farraj--SF-PST