The US markets fell sharply on Friday, sending the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to their worst week of the year, extending the biggest weekly loss of the year for global equities, after US employers added fewer jobs than forecast and services and manufacturing output in the euro region shrank more than estimated. The Labor Department released data showing payrolls climbed by 115,000 last month, after an upwardly revised 154,000 climb in March as hiring slacked off for a second straight month, according to the government’s latest employment figures. The unemployment rate edged lower to 8.1% from 8.2%, but it fell because more people stopped looking for work. Some 342,000 people dropped out of the labor force to mark the second decline in a row.
In Europe, the markets dropped after the latest batch of data offered weakening economic snapshot across the region. The economic activities declined in the region and the activities in the service and manufacturing sectors dropped at a 0.5% quarterly rate. Besides, investors fretted about weekend elections at France, Germany and Greece. France is holding the second round of its presidential election, while Greek voters will elect a new parliament this weekend. French voters will go to the polls in a final runoff between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, while Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party risks losing control of a state in a regional ballot. Greece’s two main parties - the conservative New Democracy and the center-left Socialists, known as Pasok - are expected to take heavy punishment from voters angry over the additional austerity piled on the country as a condition for its second bailout.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 168.32 points, or 1.27 percent, at 13,038.30. The S&P 500 lost 22.47 points, or 1.61 percent, at 1,369.10, while the Nasdaq was down by 67.96 points, or 2.25 percent, at 2,956.34.
Indian ADRs closed in red on Friday; Infosys Technologies was down 1.05%, ICICI Bank was down 0.84%, HDFC Bank was down 0.54%, Sterlite Industries was down 0.32% and Tata Motors was down 0.30%.
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