NEW YORK (Reuters) — US stocks dropped yesterday in light, choppy trading as a steep fall in the dollar renewed inflation worries in a short session after the Thanksgiving holiday, but the losses were partly offset by mining shares, which rose after gold prices climbed.Meanwhile, shares of retailers, including Target Corp., fell as investors worried about heavy discounting at the start of the holiday shopping season.

The dollar plunged against major currencies, and the euro rose above $1.31.

The dollar fell on concerns about central banks’ diversifying their reserves and the greenback’s narrowing yield advantage over other currencies.

“There isn’t much going on today,” said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards in St. Louis. “The market is tired anyway, oil is back up near $60 a barrel, and the dollar is getting whacked.

“You always worry about what (the weaker dollar is) going to do to our trade balance and the main reason why the dollar is weak is concern that the economy is weaker than some people thought.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 46.78 points, or 0.38 percent, to end at 12,280.17.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 5.14 points, or 0.37 percent, to finish at 1,400.95.

The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 5.72 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 2,460.26.

The US stock market, which was shut on Thursday for Thanksgiving, closed early yesterday.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.51 percent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.02 percent, but the Nasdaq gained 0.59 percent.

Traders said the dollar’s fall yesterday also made foreign investors more likely to sell US stocks because the currency changes would hurt their profits.

However, the drop in the dollar did help mining stocks as investors bid up gold prices as a hedge against inflation.

Shares of Meridian Gold Inc. jumped 4.1 percent, or $1.17, to $29.96 and shares of Newmont Mining gained 1.5 percent, or 67 cents, to $45.55, both on the New York Stock Exchange. The CBOE Gold Index rose 2.6 percent.

In Europe, gold closed at around $638.10 to $639.10 an ounce, up from $630.30 to $631.30 in London late on Thursday.

In the closely watched retail sector, shares of discount chain Target slid 1.2 percent, or 71 cents, to $57.71 on the NYSE.

The S&P Retail Index fell 0.8 percent as investors sought to gauge the impact of foot traffic and discounts on retailers’ profits on Black Friday, as the day after Thanksgiving is called, when the Christmas shopping season unofficially gets under way.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and a Dow component, were down 0.3 percent, or 13 cents, at $47.90 on the NYSE.

More violence in Baghdad a day after the bloodiest bombing there in more than three years killed about 200 people was also weighing on investor sentiment, traders said.

Crude oil prices rose one percent to $59.90 a barrel in London, adding to worries about consumer spending.

One catalyst for the higher oil prices was the disruption of exports from Nigeria after a major oil terminal there was attacked.

On the Nasdaq, shares of Intel Corp. slipped 0.6 percent, or 14 cents, to $21.59 after a South Korean newspaper reported the company has decided to close a research and development center in the country.

The Nasdaq briefly turned positive and hit a fresh 5-[1/2] year intraday high of 2,468.42, as some technology companies were seen benefiting from holiday shopping for electronics.

Shares of Apple Computer Inc. jumped 1.5 percent, or $1.32, to $91.63, setting an all-time intraday high of $93.08. Traders said the stock broke through a key resistance level.

Trading was unusually light on the New York Stock Exchange with just 519.9 million shares traded, sharply below last year’s daily average of 1.61 billion.

On the Nasdaq, just 677.8 million shares were traded, below last year’s daily average of 1.80 billion.