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FTSE 100: This morning’s risers and fallers

Lucinda Beeman
Written By:
Lucinda Beeman
Posted:
Updated:
07/11/2014

The UK stock market was trading at a one-month high on Friday following more record highs on Wall Street, boosted by upbeat US economic data and hopes for more monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB).

However, investors will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming US jobs report on Friday afternoon which has the potential to spark volatility across global financial markets.

The FTSE 100 had risen 0.7 per cent to 6,595 in early trading, after rising to 6,551.15 on Thursday – it’s highest close since 6 October.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices notched record highs for the second straight session on Thursday after US productivity and jobless-claims figures came in better than expected. ADP employment data earlier in the week also beat forecasts, suggesting upside risks to the official government report later on.

The all-important US jobs report, due out at 13:30, is expected to show that non-farm payrolls increased by 232,000 in October, after a 248,000 gain in September. The unemployment rate is forecast to have held steady at 5.9 per cent.

“We expect another strong labour market report for October this afternoon, despite some signs that growth has started to lose some momentum lately,” said Danske Bank.

Investors were also digesting comments made on Thursday by ECB president Mario Draghi who said that risks to the Eurozone economy are skewed to the downside and policymakers were unanimous in their commitment to using unconventional measures to help maintain price stability.

Analysts at Rabobank said Draghi’s comments were a “clear hint that the ECB is exploring ways to implement full-blown quantitative easing”.

Mining stocks provide a lift, Admiral falls

Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto, Fresnillo, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Anglo American were all on the rise early on as commodity prices rebounded slightly after recent weakness.

Insurance firm Admiral was in the red after blaming a competitive market for a fall in profits at its price-comparison website Confused.com in the second half.

Airline conglomerate IAG advanced after pledging to launch a dividend payment to shareholders in 2015 after saying it was confident of hitting its targets for the year. IAG also said group traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres increased 7.5 per cent versus October 2013.

Utility group National Grid also rose after saying saying it is on track to deliver another year of strong overall returns and dividend growth after a solid first half, with profits rising by 16 per cent.

Experian was continuing to advance after a well-received first-half report on Thursday in which it said earnings per share rose 6%. Canaccord Genuity upgraded its rating on the stock from ‘sell’ to ‘hold’ on Friday.

Market Movers

techMARK 2,803.25 +0.29%
FTSE 100 6,594.64 +0.66%
FTSE 250 15,574.66 +0.38%

FTSE 100 – Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 187.55p +3.33%
Royal Mail (RMG) 465.40p +2.90%
Experian (EXPN) 1,026.00p +2.65%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,755.00p +2.53%
Fresnillo (FRES) 716.50p +2.43%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,035.50p +2.29%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 268.20p +2.29%
IMI (IMI) 1,218.00p +2.10%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,354.50p +1.92%
Glencore (GLEN) 324.90p +1.85%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,214.00p -3.57%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 451.40p -1.89%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,429.00p -0.56%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 885.00p -0.56%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,408.50p -0.35%
British Land Co (BLND) 736.50p -0.20%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 76.47p -0.10%
WPP (WPP) 1,231.00p -0.08%
CRH (CRH) 1,410.00p -0.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 413.90p -0.02%

Source: ShareCast