The US markets closed modestly lower on Friday, as concern about escalating tension in Ukraine overshadowed data showing payrolls rose the most in two years. Though, the surprisingly stronger-than-expected jobs report lifted both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to record levels, but rally proved to be short-lived capping weekly gains. The US generated 288,000 jobs in April - the biggest increase in more than two years - and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, a strong performance that suggests the economy is accelerating after tepid first-quarter growth. The unemployment rate is the lowest since September 2008. The job growth in April was broad based. So far in 2014 the economy has gained an average of 214,000 jobs a month, well ahead of the 2013 pace of 194,000. In other development, orders for goods produced in US factories rose 1.1% in March. Factory orders grew by a revised 1.5% in February, compared with a prior estimate of a 1.6% gain. Orders for durable goods -- products meant to last at least three years -- rose 2.9% in March. Orders for nondurable goods fell 0.6%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 45.98 points or 0.28 percent, to 16,512.89, the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.55 points or 0.09 percent, to 4,123.90 while the S&P 500 dropped 2.54 points or 0.13 percent, to close at 1,881.14.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Friday; Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.60%, Infosys was up 0.15%, HDFC Bank was up 0.10% and Tata Motors was up 0.10%. On the other hand, ICICI Bank was down 0.06%.