(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Friday, steadying after heavy losses a day earlier, when equities and bond markets sold off amid inflation fears, as investors turned their attention to the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 10,440.53, having ended down 1.7% on Thursday after the 30-year gilt yield hit 6% for the first time since 1998 and as oil prices surged.
Oil prices had eased by Friday morning, with Brent crude 0.9% lower at $101.32 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 1.3% lower at $91.71.
Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "All eyes now shift to today's US non-farm payrolls report, a critical input for Federal Reserve policy expectations. Consensus points to a solid 90,000 increase (following August's 162,000 print) with unemployment holding at 4.1%.
"Supporting data- including ADP (90,000), declining Challenger job cuts (-19.9% y/y), and stable jobless claims - suggests underlying labour resilience, though hiring breadth remains heavily concentrated in healthcare."
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said some analysts think that payrolls could surprise on the downside because the 162,000 reading for August was down to seasonal factors that may have been erased last month.
"Due to monthly revisions in the payrolls data, the focus could shift to the wage data," she said. "While the Fed could look through another month of hot jobs growth, if we get stronger signs of wage pressures building, this will be harder for the Fed to ignore."
The payrolls report for September is due at 1330 BST, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings.
In equity markets, JD Wetherspoon shares shot higher as it reported a slump in annual profits, weighed down by higher costs, but struck an upbeat tone about current trading.
The pub chain saw revenues rise 5.2% in the 52 weeks to 26 July, to £2.24bn, or by 4.2% on a like-for-like basis. However, pre-tax profits before separately disclosed items slid 28% to £58.6m following a 5.3% spike in costs, including wages, repairs and business rates.
Looking to current trading, and Wetherspoons said underlying sales had jumped in the nine weeks to 27 September by 8.6%, including a 7.7% uplift in August, on the back of the unusually warm summer weather.
On the downside, IG Group tumbled as it said third-quarter revenue was set to fall by 14% year-on-year due to lower OTC revenue retention. Plus500 and CMC Markets were also under the cosh.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,440.53 0.12%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,170.51 0.11%
techMARK (TASX) 6,146.19 0.19%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,774.00p 2.45%
Compass Group 11 (CPG) 29.71p 2.29%
Halma (HLMA) 3,524.00p 1.91%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 126.00p 1.45%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 299.60p 1.42%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,280.00p 1.32%
BT Group (BT.A) 195.50p 1.23%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 17,100.00p 1.19%
British Land Company (BLND) 386.20p 1.15%
WPP (WPP) 387.70p 1.15%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 962.00p -21.27%
Prudential (PRU) 913.00p -0.93%
GSK (GSK) 1,780.50p -0.89%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,960.00p -0.83%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,030.50p -0.77%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 80.40p -0.57%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,213.00p -0.40%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 13,480.00p -0.37%
Tesco (TSCO) 474.00p -0.29%
Haleon (HLN) 327.40p -0.24%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 449.80p 4.71%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 870.50p 4.61%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 706.00p 2.95%
Wickes Group (WIX) 205.00p 2.91%
Playtech (PTEC) 383.00p 2.85%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 481.40p 2.54%
Volex (VLX) 670.00p 2.44%
Workspace Group (WKP) 366.60p 2.40%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 235.00p 2.35%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 268.00p 2.29%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,024.00p -7.08%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 604.00p -5.93%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 1.93p -4.64%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,186.00p -2.06%
AO World (AO.) 86.50p -2.04%
Pollen Street Group Limited (POLN) 891.00p -1.98%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 290.00p -1.86%
Chemring Group (CHG) 544.00p -1.85%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 212.60p -1.40%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 92.00p -1.39%
38.29 (0.37%)
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