London open: Equities follow European counterparts in the red amid lack of data

UK stocks kicked off the final session of the week on a downbeat note, as they followed their European counterparts into the red after the European Central Bank’s latest policy measures left investors disappointed.

At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.26% to 6,258.45. The pound, meanwhile, was broadly flat against the yen and gained 0.16% against the euro, although it retreated 0.11% against the dollar.

On the macroeconomic front, in the absence of any major economic releases in the UK, investors will focus on the US nonfarm payrolls report for November, which is due at 1330 GMT.

“The string of robust performances from the United States economy in November combined with the recent ADP of 217,000 has already provided a compelling reason for the Fed to raise US rates this year,” said FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga.

“If the NFP follows this pattern and exceeds expectations, then this may seal the deal for a US interest rate hike before 2016.”

Elsewhere, there was positive news from Germany, where factory orders beat expectations in October, and Japan, where consumer confidence grew for the second consecutive month in November.

Berkeley advances despite decline in pre-tax profit

In company news, property group Berkeley jumped 5.65% despite reporting a decline in interim pre-tax profits, which fell to £293.3m from £304.9m after sales of its ground rent portfolio fell to £51m of profit from £85.1m.

Adjusted interim pre-tax profits rose 10.2% to £242.3m

The group said it is well-placed to meet its targets for the next three years and to meet its enhanced longer term commitment to return a further £12 per share to shareholders by 2021.

EasyJet slid 0.67% despite reporting a 9.6% increase in passengers for the month of November.

The low-cost airline released its passenger statistics for the month and said it carried 4.8m passengers in the month, up from 4.4m in November 2014.

Of all available seats, 90.3% were filled in the month, up from 89.5% last year. Over the last 12 months, the airline has carried 69.6m passengers – a 6.8% rise from the previous year.

However the airline has seen an increase in flight cancellations for November, largely due to the suspension of flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Meanwhile, operator JD Wetherspoon fell 0.75% after saying it was taking action after discovering that some customer and staff information has been accessed illegally by a third party.

The group said that information was obtained from its old website, which has been replaced in its entirety.