US stocks have pared early gains and closed barely changed, with little concrete news for investors to grab onto.
At the close of trade on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 17.46 points (0.13 per cent) at 13,579.47.
The S&P 500 lost 0.11 points (0.01 per cent) to 1,460.15, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 4.00 points (0.13 per cent) to 3,193.24.
The market started higher in morning trade helped by a boost from Apple, which released its hit iPhone 5 to millions of pre-orders and rose one per cent to over $705 before falling back to close at $700.09, up 0.2 per cent.
Apple was widely bashed for the deeply flawed Apple maps function that comes with its recently unveiled iOS 6 mobile operating software, which powers the new smartphone.
Shares of Google, whose maps function previously held reign on the iPhone but is pushed aside in iOS 6, gained 0.8 per cent to $733.99.
“Apple is taking a painful public beating right now on its new mapping app,” said Greg Sterling, a consultant with Sterling Market Intelligence.
“It’s curious that the product is so glitch-ridden. One would have assumed that the company had some indication of these problems from developers who’ve had the new OS for several months.”
McDonald’s led gainers on the Dow with an 0.6 per cent rise. Trade was heavy in Coca-Cola, which fell 1.6 per cent after SunTrust Banks announced it would sell $1.2 billion in Coke shares to firm up its own finances.
Trade was also strong in IBM, which slipped 0.1 per cent.
Blackberry maker Research in Motion tumbled 6.5 per cent after fresh service problems cropped up in parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Oracle shares rose 0.7 per cent as it met earnings expectations for its most recent quarter despite a fall in revenue.
“Lower revenue, but higher profits. This is a common theme lately. Companies are squeezing already high margins,” said Briefing.com.
Bond prices were mixed. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.76 per cent from 1.78 per cent Thursday, while the 30-year held steady at 3.03 per cent. Bond prices move conversely to yields.
