London close: FTSE rises after rally in miners, mixed US jobs report

UK equities ended the week on a high as mining stocks rallied and the US non-farm payrolls report came in better than anticipated.

A gauge of miners, including Anglo American, Glencore, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta, topped the FTSE 100 as metal prices jumped. Gold prices rose 0.77%, silver surged 3.56% and copper shot up 2.65% on the COMEX.

Oil prices also climbed after official US data showed production fell to its lowest level since November 2014, soothing concerns about the supply glut.

Brent crude gained 1.9% to $37.79 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate grew 1.9% to $35.27 per barrel at 1622 GMT.

While US crude inventories grew to a new record of 517.98m barrels last week, output fell for a sixth straight week to 9.08m barrels a day, according to the US government’s Energy Information Administration.

US jobs report mixed

US non-farm payrolls employment rose 242,000 in February, beating analysts' expectations for a 195,000 increase, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9% in February, as expected by analysts.

While the non-farms surpassed estimates, average hourly earnings fell unexpectedly in February by 0.1% on the month to $25.35. Economists had pencilled in a 0.2% month-on-month rise in average hourly earnings in February following a 0.5% gain in January. On the year, hourly earnings rose 2.2% in February compared to 2.5% year-on-year growth in January and analysts' forecasts for no change.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the upbeat US jobs report raises the possibility that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at its 15-16 March policy meeting.

"However, current signs of rising inflationary pressures and a tightening labour market need to be viewed alongside indications that the pace of economic growth may be slowing, and possibly sharply, amid growing concerns about the outlook," he said.

LSE teases Deutsche Borse merger

Shares in the London Stock Exchange declined despite the company reporting strong underlying growth in the full year as it hinted at a merger with Deutsche Boerse amid talks with the company.

WPP was also in the red as the advertising giant warned of a tough economic outlook that could hurt its clients.

EasyJet flew higher after reporting a rise in passenger numbers in February. It carried 4.93m passengers last month, up 9.8% from February 2015.

BBA Aviation advanced as Investec retained its ‘buy’ rating on the stock and increased its target price to 235p from 225p.

Cobham dropped after JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the aerospace and defence group to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ and cut the price target to 255p from 305p following the company’s full year results on Thursday.

Asset manager Schroders was on the back foot after Citigroup downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.

Amec Foster Wheeler surged after the oilfield services firm said it had secured a seven-year contract with the US Air Force.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,191.96 1.00%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,919.87 1.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,136.57 0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 593.20p 11.29%
Glencore (GLEN) 158.50p 10.84%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 862.70p 8.47%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 549.50p 7.53%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,130.00p 5.86%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 286.00p 5.85%
Barclays (BARC) 174.30p 4.81%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,615.00p 4.42%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 902.50p 4.40%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,549.00p 4.31%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Schroders (SDR) 2,621.00p -4.27%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,782.00p -3.62%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,010.00p -2.27%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 552.00p -2.13%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,860.00p -1.14%
BT Group (BT.A) 470.00p -1.10%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 176.30p -1.07%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 911.00p -1.03%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 424.10p -1.00%
Next (NXT) 6,615.00p -0.97%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 87.10p 20.14%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 486.60p 12.04%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 217.30p 11.89%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 208.50p 8.54%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 284.00p 8.48%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 268.30p 8.40%
Allied Minds (ALM) 365.00p 6.76%
Senior (SNR) 224.40p 5.35%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 273.80p 5.11%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 359.00p 4.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Cineworld Group (CINE) 498.20p -6.35%
William Hill (WMH) 390.70p -2.18%
Assura (AGR) 52.70p -2.14%
Bellway (BWY) 2,404.00p -2.00%
Cobham (COB) 234.70p -1.92%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 307.20p -1.85%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,700.00p -1.82%
Redrow (RDW) 409.20p -1.49%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 534.50p -1.47%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,274.00p -1.43%