Stock futures little changed on last trading day of 2015

Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed in subdued trading on the last day of the year, with the S&P 500 holding on to a small gain for the year.

Global stocks were heading toward a sluggish end to the year, with the fall in oil prices hurting currencies of commodity-rich countries. The dollar index rose marginally against a basket of currencies.

Crude oil prices were set for their second year of steep losses suffering under an unprecedented global glut that may take another year to clear. [O/R]

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday. Dow Jones industrial average stayed firmly in negative territory for the year, while the Nasdaq Composite was higher.

Energy stocks have taken a beating this year, with the S&P energy sector losing nearly 24 percent this year, followed by a near 10 percent loss by materials .

Eight of the 10 worst performers on the S&P this year are energy companies, led by Chesapeake Energy , which shed nearly 78 percent of its value in 2015.

On the other hand, the consumer discretionary sector has been the best performer on the S&P, rising 9.5 percent in 2015, led by Netflix's 139 percent increase and Amazon's 122 percent gain. * The top three performers on the Dow are also consumer discretionary stocks, with Nike's 32 percent rise taking the lead. * Trading volumes are expected to be thin for the day, and data points sparse, with traders closing off positions for 2015.

Dow component Wal Mart's shares were down half a percent at $62 in very thin premarket trading. * U.S. jobless claims are expected to have increased by 3,000 to 270,000 last week. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures snapshot at 7:10 a.m. ET:

Dow e-minis were up 5 points, or 0.03 percent, with 4,693 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 points, or 0.05 percent, with 23,844 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.04 percent, on 6,128 contracts.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)