LONDON, May 3: Most European markets slipped back into the red in afternoon trade on Friday as selling in beat-up Vodafone and telecom stocks broadened to include the tech sector after Wall Street opened weaker, unnerved by a mixed set of data.

April US non-farm payrolls rose 43,000, which was broadly in line with expectations, but the US unemployment rate rose to a higher-than-expected 6.0 per cent — it’s highest level since August 1994 — and undermined hopes that the US economy could sustain its fiery first quarter pace.

The figures were a little bit weak and might give a bit more ammunition to the bears, allowing them to focus on continued sogginess in the labour market, but it also means the Fed’s not likely to put up interest rates soon, said Matthew Wickens, global economist at ABN Amro.

The FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 0.52 per cent, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.81 per cent. Both were still firmly entrenched within their five-month trading ranges.

That left either benchmark less than one per cent down over the week.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.62 per cent and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.22 per cent.

The DJ Stoxx telecoms index dropped 4.66 per cent, to its weakest level since November 1997.

The trigger for the latest round of selling was Vodafone, Europe’s biggest mobile phone operator, whose shares sank 9.22 per cent to near four-year lows after the company cut its forecasts for its German and Italian businesses, surprising analysts.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, which closed at record lows on Thursday, shed 5.14 per cent and 3.35 per cent respectively.

Lehman Brothers on Friday cut Deutsche Telekom to “underperform”, following downgrades from Goldman Sachs and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein on Thursday which forces the stock down seven per cent.—Reuters