By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) – European stock exchanges were down at Friday's open ahead of a key US jobs report.
The jobs report is set be announced on Friday and projected to post a rise in payrolls of 250,000 in September, with unemployment expected to remain constant at 3.7%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.38% to 394.9 points, while the UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.41% to 6,968 points.
Germany's DAX 30 was down by 0.61% to 12,394 points, and France's CAC 40 declined 0.47% to 5.908 points.
Italy's FTSE MIB dropped 0.70% to 20,992 points, while Spain's IBEX 35 fell 0.73% to 7,456 points.
According to data from the statistical office Destatis, German industrial output dropped 0.8% on a monthly basis in August, more than market forecast as supply bottlenecks persisted.
Germany's import prices increased by 32.7% year-on-year in August, the highest annual rise since March 1974.
Retail sales in Germany fell 1.3% month-on-month in August, as high inflation cuts consumers' purchasing budget and spending.
UK house price growth eased to an eight-month low in September, with the Halifax house price index rising 9.9% year-on-year.