By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - Overseas shares traded in the United States plummeted across the board on Thursday on par with U.S. stocks, as a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. payrolls diminished confidence on the economy's recovery.

News that U.S. employers shed nearly half a million jobs last month and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years, dampened recent hopes that the recession might be abating. For details, see [ID:ID:nN01210643]

Discouraged investors sought safe-haven U.S. dollars and the greenback rose sharply, adding downward pressure on shares of foreign companies.

Loss of confidence in the economy's recovery, as well as the rising dollar, sent commodities prices tumbling and hurt companies in the basic materials and energy sectors.

New York-traded shares of PetroChina (PTR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) slid 4.3 percent while miner BHP Billiton plc's (BBL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 4.6 percent.

The Bank of New York Mellon index of leading American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) tumbled 3 percent while the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX lost 2.9 percent.

For the week, the ADR index fell 1.94 percent.

ADRs of Elan Corp (ELN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) bucked the trend and jumped 8.6 percent to $7.60 after U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it would buy a $1 billion stake in the Irish drugmaker and acquire most rights to its portfolio of experimental drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease. [ID:nL2891369]