London open: Stocks pause ahead of non-farm payrolls with FTSE at record high
UK stocks declined on Friday in spite of some upbeat economic data from Germany, as markets paused at record highs ahead of some key labour-market data in the States later on.
Aggreko
869.50p
16:34 09/08/21
Alliance Trust
1,224.00p
16:34 23/04/24
Equity Investment Instruments
11,714.15
16:59 23/04/24
FTSE 100
8,044.81
16:49 23/04/24
FTSE 250
19,799.72
16:59 23/04/24
FTSE 350
4,424.29
16:59 23/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,378.75
17:14 23/04/24
Industrial Engineering
13,884.29
16:59 23/04/24
Support Services
10,639.30
16:59 23/04/24
Thomas Cook Group
3.45p
16:45 20/09/19
Travel & Leisure
7,686.36
16:59 23/04/24
Weir Group
2,012.00p
17:05 23/04/24
The FTSE 100 was down 0.09% at 6,955 early on, pulling back from Thursday’s all-time closing high of 6,961.14.
Thursday’s gains were driven by the European Central Bank (ECB), which announced that its €1.1trn quantitative easing package to boost growth and lift prices would start next week. The ECB also lowered its forecasts for inflation to just 0% this year, but lifted its growth estimates for the Eurozone economy.
German industrial output rose by more than expected in January, marking the fifth straight monthly increase and confirming a brighter picture of the Eurozone’s powerhouse. German industrial output rose by 0.6% on the month, beating estimates of 0.5%.
The focus of Friday’s session will be on the non-farm payrolls data Stateside due out at 13:30, with analysts expecting a dip in the unemployment rate from 5.7% to 5.6% in February. Non-farm payrolls are predicted to come in a 235,000, down from 257,000 the month before.
Weir Group gains, Thomas Cook surges
Shares in British engineering giant Weir Group rose on the back of market chatter that a cash-rich private equity consortium in the US is looking to table a 2,500p per share break-up offer for the group, compared with current prices at around 1,800p.
Shares in Thomas Cook jumped after the company announced a new strategic partnership with investment group Fosun International which will see the latter take a 5% stake in the travel operator. Fosun is investing £91.8m and intends over time to increase its shareholding to around 10%.
Alliance Trust edged higher as it lifted its total dividend for 2014 by 14.3% after ranking in the second quartile of all global trusts on both net asset value total return and a total shareholder return basis last year.
Telecoms giant Vodafone slipped after saying it has become one of the first companies to adopt a mandatory minimum global maternity policy for its employees, giving women at least 16 weeks of full pay after having a baby.
Aggreko was lower after Beaufort Securities downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘hold’.
Market Movers
techMARK 3,184.03 -0.01%
FTSE 100 6,955.00 -0.09%
FTSE 250 17,343.59 +0.19%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,830.00p +5.23%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,165.00p +1.22%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.70p +1.14%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 994.50p +0.96%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 978.50p +0.88%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 280.10p +0.83%
Prudential (PRU) 1,672.00p +0.81%
Aviva (AV.) 574.00p +0.79%
Carnival (CCL) 3,061.00p +0.76%
Meggitt (MGGT) 559.50p +0.63%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 360.50p -1.74%
Intu Properties (INTU) 356.90p -1.46%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,605.00p -1.23%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,788.00p -0.99%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,118.00p -0.97%
Fresnillo (FRES) 729.50p -0.95%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,154.00p -0.90%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,707.00p -0.87%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,447.50p -0.87%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,501.00p -0.86%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 6.72p +15.35%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 137.50p +14.01%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 177.50p +3.80%
DCC (DCC) 3,985.00p +3.40%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,055.00p +3.23%
BTG (BTG) 767.50p +2.88%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 175.00p +2.64%
AO World (AO.) 188.40p +1.78%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,052.00p +1.35%
Countrywide (CWD) 530.00p +1.34%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Allied Minds (ALM) 530.50p -9.63%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 165.20p -5.49%
RPS Group (RPS) 249.80p -3.18%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,464.00p -2.40%
Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 343.00p -1.44%
Greggs (GRG) 987.50p -1.35%
IP Group (IPO) 243.10p -1.18%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 136.40p -1.16%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 307.00p -1.13%
Cobham (COB) 318.20p -1.09%