London close: Stocks mixed after US nonfarm payrolls surprise
By Josh White
Date: Friday 08 Oct 2021
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were mixed at the close on Friday, as traders digested the latest US nonfarm payrolls report which surprised to the downside during the afternoon.
The FTSE 100 ended the session up 0.25% at 7,095.55, while the FTSE 250 was 0.1% weaker at 22,536.17.
Sterling was in the red, last falling 0.05% against the dollar to trade at $1.3612, and losing 0.12% on the euro to change hands at €1.1772.
"Some of the rampant bullishness of earlier in the week has been checked after yet another stumble for US job creation in today's non-farm payrolls," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"Once more the big number has come in well below forecasts, proving that attempting to predict the flight path of an economy recovering from a pandemic is quite the tricky thing.
"Unfortunately for markets, a miss like today's was the outcome least desired, since the Fed is on course to taper anyway, and it doesn't look like today's figure comes anywhere close to the kind of scary figure that might provoke Powell into swerving course at the last minute."
That, Beauchamp said, meant there was further evidence of a slowing recovery and the scaling back of asset purchases for markets to cope with.
"Overall however, given the above, markets seem to have taken it reasonably well, holding their ground and avoiding a major drop so far this afternoon."
Job growth in the US continued slowing unexpectedly September even as the latest wave of Covid-19 infections appeared to have peaked.
According to the Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls for last month came in at just 194,000, which was considerably less than the 500,000 person gain that most economists had been anticipating.
Still, the chief factor behind September's weaker-than-expected reading was a 123,000 person decline in government jobs.
Hiring in education was also atypically weak, posting a decline of 7,000 after a gain of 51,000 during the previous month.
Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics linked the drop to the seasonal adjustment factors for the sector, which had been "wild in recent months".
On home shores, British Airways and Iberia owner IAG gained 1.64% after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he wanted to scrap expensive PCR tests for international travellers returning to England in time for the October half-term holiday.
Engine maker Rolls-Royce was also a high riser., advancing 1.76%.
Electronic parts distributor Electrocomponents rose 0.19% after it lifted annual guidance after reporting interim trading ahead of expectations, but said supply chain issues would persist.
Elsewhere, Tullow Oil was lifted 4.94% by an upgrade to 'buy' at Jefferies, while Marks & Spencer was boosted 1.46% by an upgrade to 'add' at Peel Hunt.
On the downside, Royal Mail turned 0.73% lower, having gained earlier after saying it had bought Canadian logistics company Mid-Nite Sun Transportation for CAD$360m (£210.5m).
Weir was under the cosh by 2.46% after the engineer said late on Thursday that profit was set to take a hit of up to £40m following a cyberattack.
Unite Group was also weaker, falling 4.58% after the student accommodation provider said 2022 rental income was set to fall due to lower rental income in terms two and three of the new academic year.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,095.55 0.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,536.17 -0.10%
techMARK (TASX) 4,531.89 -0.41%
FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 353.55p 2.54%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,708.60p 2.16%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,714.60p 2.07%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 480.20p 1.86%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 143.70p 1.76%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 179.70p 1.64%
Kingfisher (KGF) 324.90p 1.44%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,259.00p 1.43%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,516.50p 1.40%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,691.00p 1.30%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,486.00p -3.25%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,770.50p -2.21%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 14,490.00p -1.59%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,804.00p -1.37%
Rightmove (RMV) 670.40p -1.30%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,446.50p -1.26%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,377.50p -1.19%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,838.00p -1.19%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,605.00p -1.14%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 581.40p -0.99%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 239.40p 6.64%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 213.00p 5.97%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 372.80p 5.49%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,771.00p 5.07%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 21.70p 4.93%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 128.60p 3.70%
Trainline (TRN) 338.40p 3.17%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 192.10p 3.06%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 96.00p 2.95%
Drax Group (DRX) 510.00p 2.82%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 293.30p -15.48%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,054.00p -4.58%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,269.00p -3.13%
Currys (CURY) 119.40p -3.01%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 69.84p -2.92%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 162.40p -2.64%
Ibstock (IBST) 189.80p -2.62%
Renishaw (RSW) 4,384.00p -2.49%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,607.00p -2.46%
Carnival (CCL) 1,620.80p -2.42%
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