Australia shares fall 1.9 pct on U.S. jobs gloom

SYDNEY, July 3 (Reuters) - Australian stocks fell 1.9 percent on Friday after a steeper-than-expected slide in U.S. payrolls led to hefty losses on Wall Street, raising fresh doubts on the health of the economy.

The S&P/ASX 200 index JO was down 72.4 points at 3,804.9 at 0013 GMT.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.3 percent to 2,758.8.