NEW YORK - US SHARE prices opened lower on Monday amid fading hopes for a quick economic rebound after last week's grim report on the US labour market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.39 points (0.57 per cent) to 8,233.35 in the first exchanges, after three consecutive weekly declines for the blue-chip index.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 10.93 points (0.61 per cent) to 1,785.59 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index retreated 5.32 points (0.59 per cent) to 891.10.

Stocks extended losses from last week, when the market was stunned by a weaker-than-expected report on US nonfarm payrolls.

Official figures released on Thursday ahead of a three-day holiday weekend showed US job losses surged to 467,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate to a new 26-year high of 9.5 per cent.

Mr Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said Wall Street's weak opening reflected selloffs in overseas markets, which reacted to last week's US economic news.

The weakness 'is certainly related to the carryover effect of the weak employment report in the US last Thursday, which triggered renewed concerns about the pace of the global economic recovery effort,' he said.