Europe midday: Stocks push higher ahead of payrolls

European stocks pushed higher on Friday as investors looked to the release of the eagerly-awaited non-farm payrolls report.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.6%, Germany’s DAX was 0.2% higher and France’s CAC 40 was up 1%.

At the same time, oil prices advanced. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.1% at $43.63 a barrel and Brent crude was 1.2% firmer at $45.98.

The main focus on Friday will be on the payrolls, particularly after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week that a move on interest rates would be dependent on upcoming data.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said: “Risk appetite is tempered as usual in the run-up to the latest US jobs report, but possibly even more so than usual given Fed clarity about data-dependency before the next US rate rise.

“The result of this afternoon’s US non-farm payrolls could well dictate sentiment onto the weekend. This as markets continue to digest yesterday’s raft of mixed - in some cases surprising - manufacturing data that calls into question the quality of economic recovery around the world.”

On the company front, French hotels group Accor was on the front foot after Barclays lifted the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’.

Transport operator Go-Ahead Group rallied after posting stronger-than-expected annual profits in the rail division.

On the downside, German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet slumped after it reported a first-half consolidated loss of €617m.

Shares in SBM Offshore sank after the oil-services provider said prosecutors in Brazil have rejected a leniency agreement it reached with Brazilian authorities.

Elsewhere, Segro was under the cosh after the property developer announced plans to raise £340m in a placing to fund the development of new projects.

Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone fell sharply after it reported a rise in revenue in the year to the end of August but said there has been evidence of some weakness in the secondary housing market since its update at the end of June.

On the macroeconomic front, figures from Eurostat showed producer prices in the eurozone ticked just a touch higher in July, marking their lowest monthly reading since April.

Producer prices were up 0.1% from June, in line with economists’ expectations and down from a 0.8% increase in June.

On the year, producer prices fell 2.8%, which was slightly less steep than the 2.9% drop expected and the 3.1% decline the month before.

Prices of non-durable consumer goods rose 0.3%, while prices of intermediate goods nudged up 0.1%. In the energy sector, prices fell 0.4%.

In the EU-28 group of nations, producer prices were also up 0.1% on the month and down 2.5% on the year.

The non-farm payrolls report is at 1330 BST along with the unemployment rate and trade balance figures.