U.S. stock market indexes fell in Friday's morning trading after some disappointing reports on the U.S. labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ all dropped half a percent.

European stock markets were mixed in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained one-tenth of a percent, the CAC-40 in Paris lost one-tenth of a percent, while the DAX in Frankfurt moved up four-tenths of a percent.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost two-thirds of a percent , to close at 9,492. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.3 percent , to end at 22,950.

The price of gold rose more than $4 to trade at $1,538.29 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.