US-listed shares of foreign companies fell on Friday, led by losses in Asian companies, and were on track for almost a 3 percent decline for the week. Bearish sentiment prevailed across the board after a much weaker-than-expected US May payrolls report. The Dow industrials turned negative for the year and the S&P 500 was on track to close at its lowest since early January.
The benchmark traded below its 200-day average for the first time in 2012. The BNY Mellon index of leading American depository receipts fell 1.8 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.4 percent. The BNY Mellon index of leading Asian ADRs lost 2.2 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei average slid to mark its ninth straight week of losses, the longest such run in 20 years, after disappointing Chinese and US data deepened fears of a global slowdown in the throes of Europe's debt crisis.
Japanese exporters were hurt by the double whammy of data suggesting slowing demand for their products and a strong yen, which rocketed to an 11-1/2 year high against the euro and stayed firm against the dollar as investors flocked to buy the safe-haven currency. US-listed shares of Toyota Motor lost 2.7 percent to $74.79, and Canon Inc fell 4.3 percent to $38.20. The BNY Mellon index of leading European ADRs fell 1.6 percent and the BNY Mellon index of leading Latin American ADRs fell 2.2 percent.