The Dow Jones average was seen opening lower on Thursday amid growing nervousness ahead of key U.S. employment data due on Friday, dealers in London said.
By 1040 GMT, the Globex September S&P future contract dropped 6.6 points to 1,327.40, with fair value estimated at 1,333.11 -- indicating an opening loss of around 50 points for the U.S. benchmark index.
''It's just nervousness ahead of the payrolls and it may well be ill-founded...but the market always gets jittery ahead of that number,'' said one dealer.
Economists polled by Reuters forecast that the figures would show non-farm payrolls in August by 220,000.
Stronger-than-expected data would rekindle fears that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates again when its monetary policy coimmttee meets next, on October 5.
Another dealer said the dollar weakness was also weighing on sentiment after the U.S. currency hit a 108.62 trough against the yen on Wednesday, its lowest since mid-January.
He added U.S. second quarter revised productivity and labour costs data, due out at 1400 GMT on Thursday, could start to cloud the outlook for U.S. assets.
''If today's numbers out of line that could give the market a shock,'' he said.
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