London midday: Shares fall on Super Thursday aftermath as traders await nonfarms

UK shares dropped in the aftermath of the Bank of England’s ‘Super Thursday’ and before the release of the US non-farm payrolls report.

BoE Governor Mark Carney on Thursday said the timing of a first interest rate hike was drawing closer but the exact time could not be predicted and will be "data dependent".

Speaking at press conference after the bank's Monetary Policy Committee again held interest rates at their six-year lows, Carney also said it wouldn’t be surprising if the next few months see negative inflation.

The BoE’s Inflation Report, showed officials expect annual inflation to tick back up to the 2% target by the third quarter of 2017 if interest rates rise in line with market expectations.

The Bank decided to keep interest rates at 0.5%, with minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealing a vote of 8-1 in favour of this decision while the market had predicted at least two would opt for an increase. Economists said the chances of an interest rate hike before the end of 2015 had now receded.

Turning to Friday’s agenda, all eyes will be on the non-farm payrolls report due at 1430 BST. Analysts expect the data to show US employers added 225,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is forecast to have held at 5.3% last month.

The report is critical to the Federal Reserve’s assessment of the jobs market as it determines whether the US economy is strong enough to sustain the first increase in interest rates in nine years.

Closer to home, the UK trade deficit widened in June but slightly less than expected.

The Office for National Statistics revealed that the trade deficit in goods alone grew to £9.18bn from £8.4bn, less than the £9.3bn predicted by analysts. The total trade deficit rose to £1.6bn from £885m, compared to estimates of £1.7bn.

Meanwhile, French President François Hollande and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday said a new bailout for the Hellenic nation should be agreed by late August.The leaders held talks in Egypt on the sidelines of a ceremony to inaugurate Egypt's New Suez Canal. Tsipras said the new deal would be agreed soon after 15 August, but Hollande said it would be by the end of the month.

Miners and oil producers edge higher

A measure of mining stocks, including Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo, were topping the FTSE 100 as gold, silver and copper prices rose on the Comex.

Oil producers, including BP, Premier Oil and Tullow Oil, recovered from Thursday’s slump as crude prices picked up with Brent rising 0.18% to $49.43 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate gaining 0.2% to $44.75 at 1147 BST.

Royal Dutch Shell advanced on news it has agreed to sell its 75% stake in Tongyi Lubricants in China to Huo’s Group and the Carlyle Group for an undisclosed sum

On the downside, ITV’s shares dropped on read-across from US peers, after Viacom, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox suffered heavy losses on Thursday.

William Hill declined after reporting a 35% fall in pre-tax profit to £78.7m and flat net revenue for the six months to 1 July as it battled through a period of major regulatory and taxation disruption.

Pharmaceutical shares were on the backfoot including Hikma Pharmaceutical, Shire and Astrazeneca.

UK Mail was lower after saying it expects its full-year will be materially below current market forecasts. The group has suffered hitches with its new fully automated facility in Coventry which is struggling to cope with many of the parcel sizes, which were said to be "incompatible" with its new automated sorting equipment.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,213.97 -0.35%
FTSE 100 6,748.21 +0.02%
FTSE 250 17,724.89 -0.12%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 206.05p +3.39%
Anglo American (AAL) 798.20p +2.94%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,547.00p +2.45%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,588.00p +1.86%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,195.50p +1.70%
BP (BP.) 389.30p +1.59%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 589.00p +1.55%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,613.00p +1.46%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 353.90p +1.43%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,314.00p +1.39%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ITV (ITV) 263.10p -3.24%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,325.00p -2.80%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,123.00p -2.08%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,315.00p -1.48%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 886.50p -1.34%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,062.00p -1.29%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,356.00p -1.28%
Next (NXT) 7,930.00p -1.06%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,190.00p -1.04%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,396.50p -1.01%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,843.00p +4.72%
Premier Oil (PMO) 124.10p +3.68%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 426.60p +3.04%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 231.10p +3.03%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 160.90p +2.75%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 876.50p +2.69%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 161.40p +2.54%
Cobham (COB) 286.80p +2.54%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 830.00p +2.53%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 574.00p +2.32%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
William Hill (WMH) 382.00p -7.03%
Evraz (EVR) 95.90p -4.58%
NMC Health (NMC) 859.50p -3.37%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 387.30p -2.57%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 403.30p -2.51%
Computacenter (CCC) 749.00p -2.35%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,039.00p -2.17%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,901.00p -2.01%
Man Group (EMG) 169.50p -1.74%
Card Factory (CARD) 345.00p -1.71%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
UCW Limited (UCW) A$0.01 +8.33%
Triad Group (TRD) 30.50p +3.39%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 228.00p +1.45%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.00p +1.41%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 930.00p +1.36%
Skyepharma (SKP) 282.00p +0.71%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 9.00p +0.45%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 926.00p +0.43%
Ricardo (RCDO) 917.00p +0.38%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,739.00p +0.35%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Spirent Communications (SPT) 79.50p -1.85%
RM (RM.) 178.75p -0.56%
SDL (SDL) 385.00p -0.52%
NCC Group (NCC) 235.25p -0.32%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 97.00p -0.26%