Washington - Major US stock indices declined Wednesday, shedding Tuesday's gains as a jobs report and a service industries index made investors nervous.

Declines were limited as financial shares rallied after mortgage insurer Radian Group Inc posted better-than-estimated results, and commodity producers gained as aluminium and copper prices hit nine- month highs, the Bloomberg financial news agency reported.

Ohio-based Procter & Gamble reported an 18-per-cent decline in earnings for the fourth quarter to 2.5 billion dollars. Revenues were down 11 per cent to 18.7 billion dollars.

Official US unemployment figures will be released Friday, but ADP Employer Services - the world's largest payroll processor - gave a preview in a report showing companies cut 371,000 workers from payrolls in July, more than the average estimate of 350,000 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 per cent of the US economy, fell to 46.4 from 47 in June. Fifty is the dividing line between growth and contraction.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 39.22 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 9,280.97. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 2.93 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 1,002.72. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 18.26 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 1,993.05.

The US currency slipped against the euro to 69.41 euro cents from 69.44 euro cents on Tuesday. The dollar fell against the Japanese currency to 94.92 yen from 95.26 yen on Tuesday.(dpa)