Stocks in the United States and Europe have declined, after the head of the European Central Bank suggested the recent strength of the euro could constrain the region's economic recovery.

The ECB kept the eurozone's official interest rate on hold at 0.75 per cent after its latest policy meeting.

On Wall Street, the mood was dampened by the ECB chief Mario Draghi's comments, and by figures showing that claims for unemployment benefits were higher than expected last week.

A measure of the productivity of US workers also fell by more than expected in the last three months of last year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent to 13,944, the S&P 500 Index fell by 0.2 of a per cent to 1,509, and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 0.1 per cent to 3,165.

Over in Europe, markets finished mostly lower, and the euro declined after the comments from the ECB chief.

In London, the FTSE 100 dropped by 1.1 per cent to 6,228, the DAX in Germany rose by 0.1 per cent, but the CAC 40 in France lost 1.2 per cent.

Domestically, futures trade is suggesting a weak start to the Australian session - the ASX SPI 200 index was 8 points lower at 4,886.

In commodity trade, the spot price of gold is lower at $US1,671 an ounce, and West Texas crude oil also slipped on higher stockpiles in the US, to $US95.85 a barrel.

On currency markets, the Australian dollar was down against the greenback, but strong against a weakened euro; at 8:25am (AEDT) it was buying 102.8 US cents, 76.8 euro cents, 96.2 Japanese yen, 65.5 British pence and less than $NZ1.24.