Market Report

European equities plunged again as part of the global selloff in sharemarkets continued on Friday, after weak US manufacturing data sparked fears of the world's biggest economy going into recession, while chipmakers were hit hard by Intel suspended its dividend and announced plans to slash its workforce.

London stocks were still in the red by mid afternoon on Friday as weak US data raised fears about the economy, and ahead of the release of the all-important non-farm payrolls report.

Wall Street stocks were firmly in the red at the opening bell on Friday amid resurgent fears of a potentially oncoming recession.

The U.S. dollar dropped after data on Friday showed that employers added fewer jobs in July than economists had forecast, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly moved higher.

Gold prices hit their highest in over two weeks on Friday as Treasury yields and the dollar declined after data showed the U.S. economy created fewer jobs than expected in July, boosting hopes of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

U.S. crude oil fell nearly 3% on Friday, after a weak jobs report raised renewed fears that a recession could be on the horizon.

GSK was in the black as it said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its Jemperli treatment in combination with chemotherapy and then use on its own for adult patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.