NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks Friday finished a buoyant week with a whimper, ending the session lower following a strong US jobs report.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,822.97, down 61.91 points (0.35 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 7.01 (0.34 per cent) to 2,055.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 20.70 (0.43 per cent) to 4,744.40.

Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management, attributed Friday's losses primarily to profit-taking. Even with Friday's performance, the Dow ended the week more than 650 points higher.

The Labour Department said the US economy added 257,000 jobs in January, better than the 235,000 projected by analysts.

The report also included large upward revisions to jobs growth in November and December and said hourly wage growth gained 0.5 per cent, a big improvement after a December drop.