LONDON (ShareCast) - The London stock market was more or less flat by Thursday lunchtime, erasing earlier losses after a well-received update from Morrison's boosted shares in the retail sector.
However, upside was being limited ahead of a number of risk events expected before the weekend, including a European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy decision and the all-important US non-farm payrolls report.


London's FTSE 100 was just 0.1% lower at 6,533 by midday, with investors pausing for breath after a 1.3% gain the previous session.

The Bank of England announced at noon that it had kept the Bank Rate at the record-low level of 0.5%, as was widely expected by the market given recent data showing that growth probably cooled off in the fourth quarter.


Economist Chris Williamson from Markit said that while the pressure to raise rates has not gone away, "it seems that the argument to tighten policy is losing ground compared to earlier in the year amid the recent flow of disappointing economic data at home and abroad".

The ECB is also predicted to keep policy unchanged, but the afternoon press conference from president Mario Draghi will be closely watched as usual, especially after the recent slowdown in growth and falling inflation expectations.

Given the increasing pressure on the ECB to ramp up monetary easing, investors expect Draghi to adopt a dovish tone and show his readiness to stimulate the single-currency region.

US jobless claims figures will also be in focus on Thursday afternoon and are forecast to have dipped to 285,000 last week, from 287,000 the week before.

The US employment report on Friday is expected to show that non-farm payrolls increased by 232,000 in October, after a 248,000 gain in September, while the unemployment rate is forecast to have held steady at 5.9%.

Morrison leads supermarkets higher, M&S extends gains

Supermarket chain Wm Morrison saw shares jump 7% after seeing its like-for-like sales decline ease to 6.3% in the third quarter from 7.4% in the first half, as it said its new Match & More loyalty card was proving "extremely popular" with customers. The group also narrowed its full-year guidance for underlying profit before tax to £335m-365m, from the previous £325m-375m.

Rival grocers J Sainsbury and Tesco were also higher. The wider retail sector was also in demand, including Supergroup, N Brown and Debenhams also being boosted as a colder weather descended on the country to encourage winter clothing purchases.

Marks & Spencer was extending gains made on Wednesday after beating forecasts with an unexpected increase in profit in the first half. Deutsche Bank and UBS both gave the stock a lift on Thursday after upgrading their ratings to 'buy' and lifting its target prices for the shares.

First-half profits and cash flow from credit information group Experian hit the top end of expectations despite a decline in US consumer revenue due to rebranding. The stock was among the best performers on the FTSE 100.

Randgold Resources gained after saying it experienced a "robust" third-quarter performance and is confident of delivering a record year with quarterly gold output at all-time highs and costs being well contained.

Barclays, Bunzl, BP, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline were all trading lower after going ex-dividend. The four stocks alone were accounting for a 10-point drag on the FTSE 100 on Thursday.

RSA Insurance fell after saying its underwriting result in the third quarter quarter was weak overall and posted a 9% fall in premiums.

Coca-Cola HBC was also lower after reporting a fall in third-quarter profits and predicting that "challenging" conditions would stay for the rest of the year.



Market Movers
techMARK 2,781.51 -0.44%
FTSE 100 6,532.97 -0.09%
FTSE 250 15,495.32 -0.20%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 264.30p +6.87%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 173.30p +6.71%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 465.60p +4.84%
Tesco (TSCO) 182.60p +3.90%
Experian (EXPN) 975.50p +3.78%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 505.50p +3.27%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 962.50p +2.83%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,083.00p +2.65%
Kingfisher (KGF) 290.40p +1.89%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 870.00p +1.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,339.00p -2.90%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 470.30p -2.85%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,400.50p -2.47%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,031.00p -2.46%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,511.50p -2.35%
IMI (IMI) 1,175.00p -2.08%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,040.00p -1.69%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,438.00p -1.64%
TUI Travel (TT.) 401.10p -1.62%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,276.00p -1.54%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Supergroup (SGP) 808.00p +3.72%
Amec (AMEC) 1,049.00p +3.55%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 342.00p +3.39%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 82.25p +3.13%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 157.90p +3.00%
Spectris (SXS) 1,894.00p +2.99%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 292.50p +2.99%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,390.00p +2.73%
Debenhams (DEB) 66.05p +2.72%
Afren (AFR) 74.95p +2.67%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 45.91p -6.19%
Playtech (PTEC) 652.00p -6.12%
Halfords Group (HFD) 478.70p -4.83%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,888.00p -4.16%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,379.00p -4.11%
Polymetal International (POLY) 538.50p -2.97%
Rank Group (RNK) 160.00p -2.62%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 307.90p -2.53%
Elementis (ELM) 259.50p -2.48%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,342.00p -2.21%

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