New York, May 7 (IANS): Wall Street's major averages closed mixed as the market lost momentum following a grim report on US payrolls.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 218.45 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 23,664.64. The S&P 500 decreased 20.02 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 2,848.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 45.27 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,854.39, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors dropped, with utilities and energy closing down 3.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively, leading the laggards. Technology and consumer discretionary rose 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, the only two gaining groups.

On the data front, private companies in the United States shed around 20.2 million jobs in April as the COVID-19 fallout continues to ripple through the country, US payroll data company Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) reported on Wednesday.

"Job losses of this scale are unprecedented. The total number of job losses for the month of April alone was more than double the total jobs lost during the Great Recession," Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement.