NEW YORK: Wall Street's major averages pulled back on Friday as investors parsed the February US payrolls report amid concerns over the banking sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 345.22 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 31,909.64. The S&P 500 sank 56.73 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 3,861.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 199.47 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 11,138.89, reported Xinhua.

All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with real estate and materials down 3.25 per cent and 2.15 per cent, respectively, leading the slide.

Total nonfarm payroll employment in the United States rose by 311,000 in February and the unemployment rate edged up to 3.6 per cent, the Labour Department reported on Friday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast 225,000 new jobs.

Average hourly earnings were up 0.2 per cent, less than the 0.3 per cent consensus, in part because rapid job growth continued in low-paying service industries, while job growth slowed in higher-paying manufacturing, showed the report.

"From a Fed policy viewpoint, any job gain of 300k or more is outsized, and because their focus is on service inflation, this report suggests pressure is still significant," Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial, said in a note Friday.

Investors also focused on the US banking sector as Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by US regulators Friday after a run on deposits doomed the tech-focused lender's plans to raise fresh capital.

The move caused a wider sell-off in stocks and sparked fears that other banks may be at risk of failure.

For the week, the Dow fell 4.44 per cent, the S&P dropped 4.55 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.71 per cent. - Bernama