Sawt Falasteen - Investors watching for Santa rally in thin pre-Christmas trade

Gold climbed above $4,500 for the first time and silver topped $72, as investors looked for safe havens amid US military and economic pressure on Venezuela.

Geopolitical worries have grown as Washington continues to put pressure on Caracas with a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels sailing to and from Venezuela.

Crude prices drifted higher.

Wall Street opened flat, with the S&P steady after a record close the previous night.

"There is limited news flow on this Christmas Eve morning to go along with the limited engagement of market participants, who have other holiday pursuits in mind," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"Today, however, starts the Santa Claus rally period," he added, noting "the stock market left an early Christmas present for investors yesterday when the S&P 500 established yet another record closing high".

The last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the new year typically have a positive bias.

The S&P 500's fresh all-time high on Tuesday came after figures showed the world's top economy expanded 4.3 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years and much quicker than expected.

The report provided some reassurance to investors about the economic outlook after a string of increasingly weakening jobs data.

However, other figures were less upbeat, with a gauge of consumer spending falling for a fifth successive month to its lowest level since February 2021 owing to worries about jobs.

With the economy appearing to be in better shape than expected, investors pared their bets on another Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month.

In a holiday-shortened trading session, London finished lower, Paris ended the day flat and Frankfurt was closed.

Asian markets swung between gains and losses as traders wound down before Christmas.

The yen extended its recent rebound against the dollar after Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama suggested authorities were prepared to step in to support the currency, citing speculative moves in markets.

South Korea's won also rallied after the country's central bank and finance ministry warned against the unit's excessive weakness.

- Key figures at around 1430 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 48,416.49 points

New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 6,909.21

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,552.96

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9,865.86 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,103.58 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: Closed

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 50,344.10 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 25,818.93 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,940.95 (close)

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.96 yen from 156.27 yen on Tuesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN $1.1784 from $1.1791

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3501 from $1.3499

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.27 pence from 87.34 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $58.59 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $62.00 per barrel

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L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST