US stocks completed the fourth annual gain since 2011 on the longest losing streak since the November 8 election, while oil and gold posted the best yearly advances since at least that time. The US dollar rose for a fourth straight year.

In Friday New York trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 57.18 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 19,762.6, the S&P; 500 lost 10.43 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2238.83 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 48.97 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 5383.12.

The S&P; 500 advanced 9.5 per cent on the year, though this week's three-day slide left it at the lowest level since December 6. The Dow finished the year more than 250 points below 20,000 after climbing within 30 of the mark this week. Trading volume was at least 29 per cent below the 30-day average.

US Treasuries retreated, with the 10-year yield adding 17 basis points in 2016. A measure of the dollar fell a second day, trimming its annual gain to below 3 per cent. Gold jumped 8.2 per cent for its first yearly climb since 2012. Oil futures added 45 per cent in New York.

The heady advances in multiple assets came after the year began on a sour note, with the MSCI World gauge tumbling 2 per cent on the first day and US equities notching the worst-ever start to a year. China-fuelled turmoil sent stock markets from Tokyo to India into bear markets in the first two months of 2016. Oil reached a 13-year low while the dollar slid to its weakest level in a year - all before June.

The second half of the year saw that action reverse, as financial markets powered past the Brexit shock while Donald Trump's presidential victory provided an unexpected boost to riskier assets.

"2016 was perhaps one of the biggest roller-coasters driven by political events," said Dmitri Petrov, a strategist at Nomura International in London. "It's not so much the actual realised volatility of asset markets, but volatility of market view around the global macro and policy outlook that made it exceptional."

Stocks

The S&P; 500 fell 0.5 per cent Friday to end the year at 2238.83, the lowest since December 7. Financial shares contributed most to the annual gain, with a 20 per cent rally. Energy producers jumped 24 per cent in 2016, while health-care stocks lost 4.4 per cent for the worst performance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied 13 per cent this year, led by gains of at least 30 per cent in Caterpillar, UnitedHealth Group and Goldman Sachs. Nike's 19 per cent slump made it the dog of the index. Shares in Apple ended the year 8.3 per cent higher with a market cap of $US617.6 billion.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.3 per cent, paring its annual drop to 1.2 per cent, the first retreat since 2011.

Canada's S&P;/TSX Composite Index has rallied 19 per cent in the year for the best performance among 24 developed-nation stock gauges tracked by Bloomberg. Materials and energy producers that make up one-third of the measure have jumped at least 32 per cent.

Emerging-market stocks rose for a fifth day, padding an 8.4 per cent advance that is the best since 2012.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed, up more than 2 per cent for the year, its first annual gain since 2013.

Currencies

The Australian dollar slipped 0.2 per cent to 72.08 US cents in New York trade Friday (Saturday AEDT), paring the year to date advance to 0.96 per cent.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.2 per cent, trimming the annual rise to 2.8 per cent.

The euro rallied as much as 1.6 per cent in minutes during the Asian morning, before paring its advance to 0.5 per cent and trading at $US1.0524. It ended 2015 at $US1.0862.

The yen fell 0.4 per cent to 117 per dollar, erasing an earlier advance of 0.4 per cent. The currency was up more than 20 per cent for the year in August, but has pared that to 2.7 per cent.

Sterling was on track for a more than 16 per cent drop against the dollar this year and was the worst-performing Group-of-10 currency in 2016 despite the recent stabilisation.

Commodities

Brent crude futures made the biggest annual gain since 2009 as OPEC and other producing nations plan to start supply cuts next month to reduce swelling global inventories. Futures rose 52 per cent in London to settle at $US56.82 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate futures slipped Friday to end the year at $US53.72, good for a 45 per cent rally in the year.

Gold futures ended the best year since 2011 on a down note, losing 0.6 per cent to settle at $US1151.70 an ounce in New York. The metal gained 8.2 per cent in 2016.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell two basis points to 2.45 per cent, the lowest since December 8, after dropping three basis points Thursday. The rate slipped 17 basis points in the year.

German 10-year bunds advanced, sending the yield lower by 42 basis points to 0.21 per cent.

India's benchmark sovereign bonds capped their best performance since the global financial crisis amid record debt purchases by banks, the biggest holders of government securities.

with Reuters