US shares started trading in the red, putting an end to one of the biggest three-day rallies since the start of the year as investors continue to suffer from anxiety that the green shoots of recovery may not materialise into a full-scale economic rebound.
The Dow Jones Index dropped 129 points at 6,249, the S&P 500 fell 9.29 points at 1,603 and the Nasdaq shed 11 points at 3,390.
All eyes on Wall Street were on smartphone maker BlackBerry after the Canadian group registered a much-worse-than-expected $84mln loss in the second quarter, sending the shares down nearly 30%.
Even worse, the company, which has failed to produce a real competitor to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy phones, said it will publish an operating loss for the next quarter.
Although smartphones sales were up 13% against the previous quarter, the group stopped short of providing an outlook for the remainder of the year.
Several other technology stocks were in poor shape on Friday, with shares in IBM, Intel, Cisco and United Technologies all markedly underperforming the overall market.
In the UK, where shares also fell, Serco Group (LON:SRP) continued to put in a stellar performance.
The outsourcing specialist consolidated earlier gains after it said it expects organic revenue growth to be ahead of its expectations for the first half of 2013.
On the small caps’ front, Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) leapt forward after it provided an encouraging production update.
Magnolia said the Marathon-operated Gustafson 31-30H well, in the prolific Bakken formation in North Dakota, came on at 1,216 barrels a day, or a net 50 barrels a day to Magnolia, which has 4.07%.
It was the highlight of a four-well update from the various operators the AIM-listed group is working with.
Analyst Andrew McGeary, of Northland Capital, said: “Assuming the company is producing in the region of 150 barrels a day, Gustafson would represent a 26% increase in revenue alone.
“Depending on ultimate decline rates, we would expect the well to payback in less than two years.
“Gustafson was the first in what we expect will be a number of high-impact well announcements.”
He pointed to another Marathon Oil-operated Bakken well, Helgason (where Magnolia has a 4.51% net interest), which is expected to be “similarly material”.
Shares in Petrel Resources (LON:PET) were also in good shape after the company said it plans to farm out 85% of its holdings in licences in the Porcupine Basin, on the Republic’s Atlantic margin, to Woodside, Australia's largest independent oil and gas firm.
Frontera Resources (LON:FRR) remained in high spirits after a full-year results statement indicated progress in the planned development of its portfolio.
The results come barely three weeks after an encouraging update in it predicted first gas from the Mtsare Khevi field in Georgia in the next three months.
On the downside, investors were not impressed by TXO’s interim statement.
The investment group posted an after-tax loss of US$807,000 (US$542,000) in the half year to March, but expects one of its investments, 30%-owned GBG, to report a much improved performance over the remainder of the year. It also expects to make profits in 2014.
Shares dropped nearly 10%.