London stocks had pared gains by midday on Friday, with traders no doubt kicking their feet up with a Deliveroo and indulging in a Netflix binge, sticking to the sidelines as tends to be the case ahead of the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,142.18.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: “Friday’s dip buying is not proving particularly lucrative for European investors as stocks have given back earlier gains to trade broadly flat on the day. US futures are a little lower ahead of the jobs report.
“Given the seesaw price action over the last week, you’d be forgiven for thinking we’re due a day in the green and early in the day, that’s the way we were headed. But indices quickly turned south after the open and have gradually eaten away at early gains to trade flat on the day.
“Investors are clearly still anxious about the Omicron variant for obvious reasons, despite anecdotal evidence suggesting symptoms are less severe. Higher levels of transmission are a worry but ultimately it will come down to the effectiveness of vaccines, which is the overriding concern currently.
“There may also be some hesitation ahead of the US jobs report which will come shortly before the bell on Wall Street. A strong jobs report will be great for the economy but piles further pressure on the Fed to tighten monetary policy and get domestic demand-driven inflation under control before more drastic action is needed.”
On home shores, a survey released earlier showed growth in the UK services sector eased in November but remained strong amid the fastest rise in new business intake in five months.
The IHS Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers’ index dipped to 58.5, little changed from the flash reading of 58.6 and down only a little from October’s three-month high of 59.1.
Strong output growth was attributed mostly to a swift recovery in client demand, although some firms said that shortages of staff and supply chain issues had acted as a constraint on expansion.
In equity markets, BP rallied after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank, while Rotork was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.
Petropavlovsk was in the black after it said the UK’s High Court had rejected a bid by its major shareholder JSC Uzhuralzoloto Group of Companies to stop the sale of a stake in iron ore subsidiary IRC.
3i Group rose following a report it is considering the sale of French natural health products manufacturer Havea Group, which could be valued at about €1.1bn.
Home improvement retailer Wickes surged after lifting its FY2021 profit guidance to “no less than £83m” as it said it continued to perform well in the fourth quarter.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,142.18 0.18%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,780.53 0.42%
techMARK (TASX) 4,372.11 -0.01%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,550.00p 2.04%
BP (BP.) 343.45p 2.04%
Kingfisher (KGF) 329.30p 1.98%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,099.50p 1.76%
SSE (SSE) 1,612.00p 1.74%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 638.80p 1.65%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 164.30p 1.55%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,654.00p 1.52%
Pearson (PSON) 584.80p 1.49%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,726.00p 1.49%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,620.00p -2.14%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,755.00p -1.61%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,075.50p -1.12%
ITV (ITV) 110.20p -1.08%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 368.50p -0.97%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,664.00p -0.95%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,751.50p -0.91%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 424.30p -0.89%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 109.10p -0.87%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 46.52p -0.85%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Rotork (ROR) 359.00p 3.28%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 207.60p 3.18%
AJ Bell (AJB) 370.00p 2.44%
Ibstock (IBST) 200.60p 2.29%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 337.40p 2.24%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,733.00p 2.24%
Carnival (CCL) 1,212.40p 2.05%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,530.00p 2.00%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 2,045.00p 2.00%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 130.40p 1.95%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 285.40p -2.99%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 270.30p -2.94%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 123.30p -2.61%
Future (FUTR) 3,416.00p -2.12%
Contour Global (GLO) 181.20p -1.84%
Capita (CPI) 44.24p -1.62%
Essentra (ESNT) 311.50p -1.58%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 82.00p -1.56%
SSP Group (SSPG) 222.10p -1.51%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,100.00p -1.43%
