US stocks mildly weaker during opening trade

Major US equity indices opened mixed on Friday as surging US Dollar fueled concerns about difficulty for US exporters and is weighing on investor sentiment. The greenback extended its recent upward trajectory after the Fed Chair Janet Yellen (during her testimony on Thursday) signaled that the central bank is likely to go ahead and raise interest rates at its December meeting. 

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded with mild negative bias, down 15 points to 18,888, while the broader S&P 500 index was absolutely flat from Thursday's closing, around 2,187 level. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ticked higher and touched intraday record high level of 5,346 before trimming early gains to 5,333.

Adding to Yellen's view, comments from various Fed officials - St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan, Kansas City Fed President Esther George, reinforced expectations of an eventual Fed rate-hike action and provided and additional boost to the overall US Dollar Index. Stronger greenback is taking a toll on dollar-denominated commodities - like gold, which dropped to its lowest level since late May during European trading session.

In other markets, European equity indices traded in negative territory and Asian markets had a mixed day, with the prevalent weakness in the Japanese currency lifting the Japan's Nikkei 225 index.

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