EMERGING MARKETS-Weak on U.S. jobs, S. African rand slips

By Sebastian Tong LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Emerging assets drifted lower on Friday in trade kept largely listless by a U.S. market holiday and following Thursday's weak employment data from the world's largest economy. South Africa's rand fell over 1 percent against the dollar, backing off from recent one-year highs, on softening commodity prices and worries over weaker government revenues. The benchmark emerging equities index eased 0.1 percent by 1050 GMT while sovereign debt spreads widened 1 basis point to trade at 430 basis points over U.S. Treasuries. Weaker oil prices dragged Russian shares down 1.5 percent while Czech stocks sank to five-week lows. Profit-taking on emerging equities was further fuelled by U.S. payrolls data on Thursday showing employers cutting far more jobs than expected in June. 'The markets are... [read full story]                    

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