London midday: Stocks snap five-day winning streak ahead of US jobs report

UK stocks declined on Friday after hitting an intraday 14-year high the previous session, as investors scaled back risk appetite ahead of the highly-anticipated US non-farm payrolls data.

London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.7% lower at 6,831 by midday after five straight days of gains.

The Footsie edged higher on Thursday to close at 6,877.97, its highest finish since 14 May when it settled at 6,878.49. Nevertheless, during the session the index reached a high of 6,904.86, its highest intraday level since the record 6,950.60 set in late December 1999.

Driving gains across Europe on Thursday was the surprise announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB) that policymakers had voted to cut interest rates in response to recent weak economic data. The ECB also unveiled plans to buy asset-backed securities and covered bond purchases to help ease credit conditions across the single-currency region.

"As far as investors are concerned, the surprise ECB rate cut yesterday is a thing of the past and the only thing that matters now is the jobs report," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. "At least, that what the markets would suggest given the profit taking we appear to be seeing this morning ahead of the US data."

US stock futures were lower in pre-market trade ahead of the US employment report due out at 13:30 (London time). Consensus forecasts are for a 230,000 increase in payrolls in August, up from 209,000 in July, while the jobless rate is expected to fall to 6.1% from 6.2%.

Mining stocks fall

Mining stocks were bearing the brunt of the profit taking in morning trade with Randgold Resources, Fresnillo and Rio Tinto among the worst performers on the FTSE 100.

Insurer Standard Life was pulling back after strong gains made on Thursday. The shares jumped 8% after the company sold its Canadian operations for £2.2bn to Manulife Financial and promised to return £1.75bn to shareholders.

In contrast, BP was attempting to rebound after a 6% slump the previous sesssion after a US judge found that the oil major was "grossly negligent" and "reckless" in the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.

Oil and gas group Tullow Oil fell slightly on the news that is to sell its interests in two blocks offshore Netherlands for €62.7m (£50m) as it continues to shed off its gas assets in the North Sea.

RBS rose initially after Berenberg hiked its target price for the stock from 210p to 250p. However, gains were quickly erased after the broker repeated its 'sell' rating on the stock, saying that the "shares are expensive considering the legacy risks and the negative impact of the restructuring plan has yet to fully take effect".

Market Movers
techMARK 2,852.39 -0.54%
FTSE 100 6,831.19 -0.68%
FTSE 250 15,924.85 -0.44%

FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 459.30p +0.95%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,057.00p +0.76%
Pearson (PSON) 1,117.00p +0.72%
Experian (EXPN) 1,076.00p +0.56%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 368.00p +0.52%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,488.00p +0.47%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,288.00p +0.47%
SSE (SSE) 1,508.00p +0.33%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,986.00p +0.30%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 446.90p +0.18%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,407.00p -4.22%
Fresnillo (FRES) 874.50p -3.85%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,797.00p -2.89%
Meggitt (MGGT) 466.30p -2.41%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,035.00p -2.40%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,267.00p -2.37%
Royal Mail (RMG) 425.10p -2.14%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,871.00p -1.95%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,094.00p -1.88%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,275.00p -1.68%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 139.90p +3.94%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,592.00p +3.80%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 169.10p +2.86%
CSR (CSR) 768.00p +2.40%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,291.00p +2.28%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,139.00p +1.88%
Xaar (XAR) 425.20p +1.80%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 142.40p +1.35%
Dignity (DTY) 1,491.00p +1.02%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 95.00p +1.01%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 233.10p -3.12%
National Express Group (NEX) 252.50p -2.66%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 195.10p -2.55%
AO World (AO.) 214.80p -2.23%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 244.50p -2.20%
Lonmin (LMI) 223.50p -2.19%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 120.70p -2.11%
Just Eat (JE.) 288.40p -1.97%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 130.80p -1.88%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 175.60p -1.84%