Some recovery during the week for global markets

US stocks ended the last day of this week lower after three straight days of solid gains, as a steep fall for Apple shares led a retreat for the broader technology sector and participants took a less optimistic view of the prospects of a thaw in US- China trade relations.

European equities pared their early gains although the Stoxx 600 index still registered its best week since December 2016, while emerging market stocks — as measured by the FTSE EM index — extended their recent rally to reach a four-week high.

The retreat for Wall Street also came as a robust US employment report helped reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again next month, pushing Treasury yields and the dollar higher.

Apple’s decline came in response to a disappointing outlook for holiday season sales from the company. This was followed by disappointing guidance from a number of other big- name US companies during the quarterly reporting season.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of uncertainty about the prospect of a trade deal between the US and China. Reports on Friday suggested that Donald Trump, US president, was looking to reach a deal before the end of this month and had asked officials to draw up a draft of a potential agreement

Further positive news on the US economy came from the latest non-farm payrolls report, which showed that 250,000 jobs had been created last month — more than expected — and that average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% month on month, pushing the annual growth rate to 3.1%.

Oil prices remained on the back foot, with Brent extending its drop from the October 3 high of $86.74 to about 16 per cent. Gold was flat at $1,232 an ounce.