London stocks were steady by midday on Friday as investors kept their powder dry ahead of the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
The FTSE 100 was flat at 6,506.34.
IG said: “European markets are looking to end the week on a positive footing, with February proving to be a month of bounty for bulls thus far. The UK may be in lockdown, yet investors are looking beyond this period to speculate over exactly who could eventually come back into favour once the economy starts to reopen.
“With the UK vaccination programme ramping up at an impressive clip, traders are favouring those FTSE value names once more. The feeling is that any company which has made it this far is likely to come out the other side, and thus even those stocks with major losses such as airlines and cruise companies are coming into a period of consistent upside.”
The payrolls report is due a 1330 GMT, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings. The US is expected to have added 100,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate is seen steady at 6.7%.
In equity markets, travel and leisure stocks were on the rise, with Premier Inn owner Whitbread, pub group Mitchells & Butlers and cruise operator Carnival all higher.
Burberry rallied after an upgrade to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs, while Barratt Developments was trading higher after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Liberum.
Anglo American was boosted by an initiation at ‘buy” by Berenberg.
Beazley surged after it posted an annual pre-tax loss that was smaller than expected. The Lloyd’s of London insurer swung to a loss of $50.4m in the year to the end of December from a profit of $267.7m a year earlier as it was hit by $340m of losses from the pandemic, but this was better than consensus expectations for a $106.4m loss.
On the downside, Signature Aviation fell after Global Infrastructure Partners teamed up with rival bidders Blackstone and Microsoft founder Bill Gates to make a $4.73bn (£3.43bn) bid the company.
Outside the FTSE 350, French Connection shares surged after the clothing retailer said it was in talks with two potential suitors.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,506.34 0.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,932.38 0.59%
techMARK (TASX) 4,119.34 -0.12%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Whitbread (WTB) 3,250.00p 4.17%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,285.60p 3.18%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,346.60p 2.86%
Glencore (GLEN) 254.30p 2.79%
British Land Company (BLND) 453.90p 2.53%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 853.80p 2.50%
Evraz (EVR) 505.80p 2.41%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.95p 2.33%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,442.00p 2.31%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,470.00p 2.24%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 887.80p -2.76%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,937.00p -2.39%
Aviva (AV.) 342.10p -2.20%
Pearson (PSON) 720.80p -2.20%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 133.02p -2.06%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,283.00p -1.76%
Pennon Group (PNN) 919.60p -1.71%
National Grid (NG.) 857.60p -1.67%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,492.00p -1.39%
DCC (DCC) 5,786.00p -1.36%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Beazley (BEZ) 371.80p 15.75%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 351.00p 8.17%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 163.65p 6.30%
FirstGroup (FGP) 82.85p 5.81%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 476.10p 4.39%
National Express Group (NEX) 295.00p 4.09%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,264.00p 3.95%
Carnival (CCL) 1,375.00p 3.66%
Provident Financial (PFG) 287.60p 3.60%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 574.00p 3.42%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 2,014.00p -4.46%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 422.00p -2.76%
Signature Aviation (SIG) 415.30p -2.33%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,047.00p -2.06%
Spectris (SXS) 3,038.00p -1.62%
Quilter (QLT) 156.25p -1.61%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 199.00p -1.49%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 759.50p -1.36%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 406.80p -1.36%
International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 174.00p -1.25%
