NEW YORK - US STOCKS opened mainly lower on Friday with investors fretting over fears that recovery from the global recession remains distant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 38.47 points (0.47 per cent) to 8,144.70 in the first exchanges after marginal gains on Thursday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq edged up a fractional 0.10 point (0.01 per cent) to 1,752.65 while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 4.63 points (0.52 per cent) to 878.05.

Ahead of the opening, the government said the US trade deficit narrowed sharply in May to its lowest level in nearly a decade, led by a plunge in imported oil.

The deficit fell nearly 10 per cent in May to a seasonally adjusted US$26.0 billion (S$38 billion), the lowest level since November 1999.

The news appeared moderately positive for the US economy but also reflected weakness in overall global trade.

Mr Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said that 'the impetus for the weak tone this morning was the weak finish yesterday, along with a report that China's exports declined for the eighth straight month'. He said this 'is diluting some of the hope that China's domestic red shoots will germinate the green shoots of a global recovery'. -- AFP