As well as a host of service-sector data from across the globe, traders will be watching a policy meeting at the European Central Bank (ECB) very closely, along with the all-important non-farm payrolls report in the States this afternoon.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.2% higher at 6,829 in early trading. It has not closed above this level since June 12th when it settled at 6,843.11.

After the extraordinary measures announced at the ECB meeting in June, investors are not expecting any fresh policy action today, though comments from ECB President Mario Draghi will be closely watched as markets look for more details on last month’s package

As for the official jobs reports, analysts expect 215,000 non-farm payrolls to have been added in June, down from 217,000 the previous month. However, risk is now on the upside after data from the ADP Research Institute yesterday showed that private-sector hiring smashed forecasts last month. ADP said that private payrolls jumped by 281,000 in June, compared with just 179,000 in May and the 205,000 consensus estimate.

Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at Capital Spreads, said that if today’s figure similarly beats estimates, equities could “rally on the implications for the economy and shrug off the monetary tightening implications again”.

“However, if one thing has characterised the markets over the last few years it has been its bipolar nature, flipping between ‘good news is bad news’ and ‘good news is good news’ with frustrating regularity.”

Balfour disappoints again

Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty, which shocked the market with a profit warning in May, has maintained its guidance but highlighted a “further worsening” in the trading performance of its mechanical and electrical engineering activities, causing shares to drop sharply. Engineering Services is now being reviewed after the company identified a “further £35m profit shortfall” in the first half, though this will be offset by more gains from the disposal of public-private partnership (PPP) concessions in the Infrastructure Investments division.

Results from pubs group Greene King also failed to please this morning with results. A growing appetite among consumers for eating out in pubs helped it to serve up tastier annual profits, although it warned that consumers were still cautious.

Poundland shares were up after a robust set of maiden results from the budget retailer was swiftly followed by first-quarter results that showed growth momentum has improved into the new financial year and that it had opened a first store in Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Tullow Oil was also higher after striking oil at its 20%-owned Hanssen wildcat well offshore Norway, which it estimates carries up to 50m barrels of recoverable oil.

FTSE 100 – Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 794.00p +1.60%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,220.00p +1.41%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 196.95p +1.23%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 317.30p +0.95%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 912.00p +0.94%
St James’s Place (STJ) 784.00p +0.90%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 181.10p +0.84%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 734.00p +0.82%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,497.00p +0.81%
Barclays (BARC) 218.85p +0.81%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
SABMiller (SAB) 3,367.00p -0.91%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,382.00p -0.83%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,245.00p -0.48%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,083.00p -0.45%
Old Mutual (OML) 198.90p -0.45%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,454.00p -0.41%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,061.00p -0.38%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,255.00p -0.37%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,655.00p -0.36%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,957.00p -0.36%

Source: ShareCast