LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - European stocks lost further ground on Wednesday after weak U.S. data showed that private employers had added on fewer-than-expected jobs in April.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index was down 0.5 percent at 1,042.80 points at 1222 GMT after the U.S. data came out, having earlier traded down around 0.2 percent.