FTSE preview: Shares level, US jobs due
The FTSE 100 is seen opening flat higher after strong gains in the past two sessions, with all eyes on the key November US jobs report.
Friday feeling: Shares have recovered losses this week.
The UK blue chip index closed 125.06 points, or 2.2% higher on Thursday at 5,767.56, its highest close since November 22 and the biggest daily gain since the start of September, powered by strength in banks and commodity stocks on increased confidence that the euro zone debt crisis would be contained.
Wall Street rallied for a second day on Thursday as concerns about Europe's sovereign debt crisis waned, and in Asia on Friday Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6%, driven higher mainly on buying of the technology sector.
On the domestic data front, the Markit/CIPS British services PMI report for November will be released but investor attention will be squarely across the Atlantic on the US jobs numbers.
November non-farm payrolls are forecast to rise by 140,000, after a 151,000 increase in October, with the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings both seen unchanged at 9.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
There will be updates today from British Airways, Greene King, Berkeley Group, Sthree Group, Pursuit Dynamics, Falkland Island Holdings, Ceres Power and Interior Services Group.
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