Wall Street flat as defensives offset banks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Friday as energy shares gained and investors bet on defensive plays, including McDonald's , offsetting news pointing to yet more upheaval in the financial sector.

Financial shares were broadly lower despite a fresh $20 billion government capital injection for Bank of America which renewed worries over the fate of the sector.

Bank of America and JPMorgan were among the Dow's top drags. The S&P financial index <.GSPF> tumbled 3.3 percent, extending losses after a steep fall in shares of Britain's Barclays in late European trading. The decline put the index on course for a second straight weekly drop.

"There's worries about whether financials have adequate capital to deal with the current economic environment that we're going through," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist for RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was off 6.69 points, or 0.08 percent, to 8,205.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 1.56 points, or 0.18 percent, to 842.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> edged down 1.11 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,510.73.

In choppy trading, indexes earlier had been up more than 1 percent before reversing at midday.

McDonald's was the Dow's top boost, gaining 2.6 percent to $59.49 after its chief executive told CNBC television the company expected to continue paying dividends.

Energy shares also gave the market a lift as the price of oil reversed course to push higher. Dow component Exxon Mobil was up 1.6 percent at $77.86.

On the heels of the financial lifeline for Bank of America, the bank posted its first quarterly loss in 17 years, while Citigroup also reported a hefty quarterly loss and said it plans to split into two units.

Bank of America was down 14.3 percent at $7.13 after touching its lowest level since February 1991. Citigroup fell 3.1 percent to $3.71 and JPMorgan Chase & Co lost 9.6 percent to $22.01.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

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