FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Recession worries and disappointments in the US technology sector pushed the Dax below the 18,000-point mark on Friday. Shortly after the opening on Xetra, the leading German index lost 1.29 percent to 17,850.19 points. The weak start to the month of August thus continued. Technically, the Dax now appears to be battered - a weekly close below 18,000 points would reinforce this impression.

The MDax of medium-sized companies lost 1.72% to 24,571.47 points. The leading eurozone index, the EuroStoxx 50, fell by 0.8 percent.

Indications of a possible interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in September had not boosted the indices the previous day. Following very weak economic data, concerns about a slowdown in the economy had grown - and investors were focusing on this.

Against this backdrop, the publication of the US labor market report for July will be exciting in the afternoon. "If the labour market data from the USA is too weak today, prices around the globe could continue to fall as dynamically as they did yesterday," warned analyst Jochen Stanzl from broker CMC Markets.

The DAX had already lost 2.3 percent the previous day. In the USA, the Nasdaq 100 fell by a similar amount. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell by 5.8 percent in the morning./ajx/mis