NEW YORK, Oct 7: US stocks ended lower Friday after a government report showed September job growth was much weaker than anticipated by Wall Street analysts with just 51,000 new positions created.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 16.48 points (0.14 per cent) at 11,850.21 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished down 6.35 points (0.28 per cent) at 2,299.99.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index ended 3.64 points (0.27 per cent) lower at 1,349.58.

The weak job numbers put an abrupt stop to the Dow's recent winning streak.

The blue-chip index had notched up a third straight closing high of 11,866.69 on Thursday.

Stocks tumbled in reaction to a Labour Department report which showed US employers added 51,000 jobs in September, the weakest payroll growth in a almost a year, in a further sign of cooling economic growth.

The growth in payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, was much weaker than the 120,000 new jobs expected by Wall Street analysts. It was also the lowest growth since October 2005.

The unemployment rate meanwhile fell to 4.6 per cent last month from 4.7pc in August.

Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, said the report was a clear sign of a slowing expansion.

Subpar jobs and wages growth indicates the economy is slowing significantly, and underperforming its potential, Morici said.—AFP