LONDON (ShareCast) - Markets declined on Friday morning, despite relative strength in the mining sector, as traders refrained from building positions ahead of the key risk event of the day - the US employment report.

The market reaction to the non-farm payrolls figure will be interesting to see, given the somewhat disappointing labour-market data in recent days, after both the ADP employment report and jobless claims figures missed forecasts.

Consensus estimates are for a 199,000 increase in non-farm payrolls in March, well below the 236,000 surge in February. Meanwhile, the jobless rate is expected to stay at 7.7% following an unexpected drop the month before.

If the official figure today misses forecasts, markets could react positively given increased hopes that the Federal Reserve will maintain the rate of its quantitative easing (QE) programme.

"Traders are of the view that if we see a figure that falls short of expectations, it would go some way to support the idea that the Fed will not halt or end QE anytime soon as the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high," explained Market Strategist Ishaq Siddiqi.

Alternatively, if we see another strong beat today - as was the case last month - it could throw weight behind the argument by many US policymakers that stimulus measures will need to be scaled back.

easyJet flying lower after trading update

Budget airline easyJet sunk despite meeting forecasts with its first-half guidance and reporting growth in passenger numbers in March. Traders were shrugging off an upgrade by Investec from 'hold' to 'buy' after the company said that the bad weather resulted in a higher-than-expected level of cancellations.

Sector peer IAG, which yesterday put in a large order for 18 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, was falling sympathy.

High Street giant Next was a heavy faller after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock from 'outperform' to 'neutral', after a 50% jump in the share price in the last year. The broker said that some of the 2013/2014 drivers are "not quite as significant as hoped".

Telecoms firm BT Group was also suffering the effects of a downgrade by Morgan Stanley to 'equal weight'.

Heading the other way were the miners with ENRC leading the way with gains of around 4.0%, continuing its recent volatile swings. Sector peers EVRAZ, Fresnillo, Polymetal and Randgold were also in demand.

AstraZeneca was flat despite unveiling positive results from a study of fostamatinib, an oral drug being developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

On the small-cap Alternative Investment Market (AIM), shares in Software Radio Technology surged after the company revealed that results for the year to March 31st will be ahead of market expectations. Revenues will grow 60% to £10m, ahead of Westhouse Securities' forecast of £8.9m.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 244.70p +4.04%
SSE (SSE) 1,526.00p +1.19%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 110.40p +1.01%
National Grid (NG.) 784.50p +0.90%
Centrica (CNA) 374.80p +0.89%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 276.50p +0.77%
BAE Systems (BA.) 385.70p +0.73%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 716.00p +0.70%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,664.00p +0.60%
Aviva (AV.) 295.80p +0.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 239.90p -4.91%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,059.00p -3.46%
Next (NXT) 4,217.00p -2.50%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,026.50p -2.33%
Glencore International (GLEN) 341.20p -2.15%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,154.00p -1.95%
BT Group (BT.A) 268.30p -1.94%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,052.00p -1.68%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 380.60p -1.60%
Diageo (DGE) 2,015.00p -1.52%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 90.95p +3.29%
Drax Group (DRX) 634.50p +3.25%
NMC Health (NMC) 318.80p +3.24%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 43.10p +2.74%
Menzies(John) (MNZS) 721.50p +2.49%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 218.00p +2.35%
Synthomer (SYNT) 209.00p +1.65%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 129.80p +1.64%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 27.10p +1.50%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,871.00p +1.41%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Perform Group (PER) 448.00p -5.74%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 210.90p -5.43%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 255.00p -4.06%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 177.30p -3.33%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 257.00p -2.76%
Henderson Group (HGG) 155.40p -2.51%
EnQuest (ENQ) 131.80p -2.23%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 159.30p -2.09%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 320.80p -2.05%
PayPoint (PAY) 871.00p -2.02%

BC

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