LONDON (ShareCast) - - FTSE down 32 points
- Investors await jobs report
- Surprise fall in UK construction output

techMARK 2,625.04 -0.68%
FTSE 100 6,664.27 -0.49%
FTSE 250 15,302.27 -0.57%

The FTSE continued to sit firmly in the red by lunchtime as investors await today's all-important jobs report, which will be a major factor in the Federal Reserve's decision over tapering quantitative easing.

On this side of the pond, UK construction output fell unexpectedly in September by 0.9% when compared to a month earlier, when it rose 0.1%, data revealed. The figures from the Office for National Statistics missed economists’ estimates for an increase of 1.5%. Falls were registered in all sectors in the month, excluding public new work and private commercial other new work.

Other big news out today includes Bumi reportedly taking a step closer to a split from the Bakrie family. The group is believed to be planning to consult shareholders on the move in early December.

Twitter’s shares surged on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Shares in Twitter opened at $45.10 and rose as high as $50.09, briefly pushing the company’s market capitalisation above $27bn. It ended the day at $44.90 a share. The initial public offering was priced at $26 per share.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's has cut France's credit rating from AA+ to AA, nearly two years after its was stripped of its AAA status.

Back in the UK, water regulator Ofwat blocked a proposed 8% price hike by Thames Water, saying it was unjustified.

Chief Exectuvie of carmaker Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, has warned that if the UK were to exit the European Union, the company would re-evaluation its investment here.

All eyes on the US

The US non-farm payrolls for October is expected to rise by 125,000, compared to an increase of 148,000 in September.

The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 7.3% in October from 7.2% after a partial government shutdown hurt the jobs market and economic growth.

The central bank has vowed to keep interest rates near zero until after the jobless rate drops below 6.5%, as long as inflation doesn't exceed 2.5%.

Investors are closely watching economic data to weigh whether the Fed might announce a tapering of its monthly $85bn bond buying programme this year.

Also acting as a backdrop to today will be the release of the University of Michigan’s sentiment index for November which is expected to rise to 74.5 from 73.2 the prior month.

IAG tops leaderboard after impressing with strong Q3

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) also charged higher after it delivered a “strong” set of third quarter results which showed British Airways performance had taken off aided by the bounce back from the Olympics effect last year. The airlines group reported three month pre-tax profit had soared to €609m from €237m last time after revenues rose 6.9% to €5.4bn and costs fell 1.5%. Third quarter passenger unit revenue was up 6.7%.

Rolls-Royce shares also jumped after it said it expects the full year to achieve modest growth in underlying revenue and underlying profit with cash flow around breakeven, according to a trading update out this morning. However, the engine manufacturer has changed its underlying profit guidance in its Defence Aerospace business from broadly flat to modest growth and in Marine from modest growth to broadly flat.

Water group Severn Trent also made strong gains in the wake of strong comments from the Motley Fool, and an announcement from the group that it had made recommendations to allow the industry to make "significant environmental improvements", whilst maintaining "affordable" bills. The group also called on ministers to set establish its key priorities for future investment and outlined the need for "appropriate pace and scale for investment".

Meanwhile, Schroders extended yesterday's losses as investors continued to cashed in on strong gains seen in the share price over the past year (around 65%). The group yesterday reported a sharp rise in third quarter profits helped by its recent acquisition of Cazenove Capital. The fund manager said pre-tax profits rose to £106.2m in the three months to the end of September from £88.6m in the same period last year on the back of revenues which rose to £366m from £276.5m.

Aberdeen Asset Management was also in the red on reports it faces competition for its potential purchase of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP). According to the Wall Street Journal, Macquarie Group is planning to put in a £500m bid for SWIP. Aberdeen last month said it was in discussions with Lloyds about a possible purchase.



FTSE 100 - Risers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 369.00p +5.73%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,212.00p +3.59%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 120.90p +1.34%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,405.00p +1.01%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,766.00p +0.91%
British Land Co (BLND) 617.00p +0.82%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,180.00p +0.68%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,010.00p +0.60%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,354.00p +0.60%
Meggitt (MGGT) 510.50p +0.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 427.30p -3.41%
Schroders (SDR) 2,406.00p -3.41%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,032.00p -2.64%
CRH (CRH) 1,509.00p -2.33%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 825.50p -2.31%
William Hill (WMH) 386.10p -2.10%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,156.00p -1.78%
IMI (IMI) 1,510.00p -1.76%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 948.00p -1.66%
Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 327.75p -1.58%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Dignity (DTY) 1,424.00p +2.52%
IP Group (IPO) 154.70p +2.45%
Redrow (RDW) 272.60p +2.37%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 779.50p +2.30%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 530.50p +2.22%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 246.00p +2.07%
Partnership Assurance Group (PA.) 408.60p +1.90%
Homeserve (HSV) 237.90p +1.84%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 850.00p +1.80%
Telecity Group (TCY) 684.00p +1.71%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dialight (DIA) 942.00p -7.47%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 299.30p -5.88%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 667.00p -4.03%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 414.20p -3.13%
CSR (CSR) 504.50p -2.98%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 374.10p -2.83%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 266.80p -2.81%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,192.00p -2.77%
Countrywide (CWD) 540.00p -2.35%
ICAP (IAP) 369.50p -2.33%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
NCC Group (NCC) 169.25p +2.58%
Microgen (MCGN) 124.00p +2.06%
Gresham Computing (GHT) 135.00p +1.12%
Vectura Group (VEC) 107.75p +0.70%
Vislink (VLK) 52.25p +0.24%
RM (RM.) 114.25p +0.22%
SDL (SDL) 258.00p +0.10%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 0.30p -6.25%
Kofax (KFX) 365.00p -2.67%
Ricardo (RCDO) 609.00p -0.98%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 155.00p -0.96%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.67p -0.93%
Sepura (SEPU) 143.00p -0.69%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 145.00p -0.68%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,562.00p -0.51%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 890.00p -0.22%
IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 179.52 -0.16%

NR

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