London open: Stocks edge lower as investors mull jobs data
London stocks edged lower in early trade on Thursday as investors digested the latest UK jobs data.
At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,076.52, while sterling was 0.3% lower against the dollar at 1.3820.
Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of employees on UK payrolls rose by 356,000 in June as the labour market continued to recover from the worst of the pandemic.
The increase took the total of payroll employees to 28.9 million but the figure remains 206,000 less than before the crisis with many jobs preserved by government support.
The unemployment rate edged down 0.2 percentage point to 4.8% and the redundancy rate fell to pre-pandemic levels. From April to June there were 862,000 vacancies - 77,500 more than the pre-crisis level in the first three months of 2020.
Darren Morgan, the ONS's director of economic statistics, said: "The labour market is continuing to recover, with the number of employees on payroll up again strongly in June. However it is still over 200,000 down on pre-pandemic levels, while a large number of workers remain on furlough.
"The number of job vacancies continued to rise very strongly. The biggest sector driving this was hospitality, followed by wholesaling and retailing."
In equity markets, Shell, BP and Tullow Oil gushed lower as oil prices fell.
British Airways and Iberia parent IAG, engine marker Roll-Royce, budget airline easyJet and travel company Tui were also in the red amid ongoing worries about the impact of Covid-19.
Just Eat Takeaway.com was weaker even after it said losses had peaked and it expected to move back into profit after orders increased by more than half in the first six months of 2021.
On the upside, cybersecurity firm Avast surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after confirming it was in advanced talks over a merger with NortonLifeLock. If the deal goes through, it will be a cash-and-share offer, Avast said, but added there was no certainty a deal will be agreed.
Credit-checking firm Experian rallied after lifting its full-year expectations as it reported a 31% jump in first-quarter revenues, with all regions and segments delivering growth.
B&Q owner Kingfisher gained after it said late on Wednesday that first-half adjusted pre-tax profit was set to be ahead of its previous expectations following better-than-anticipated second-quarter trading.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,076.52 -0.21%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,671.41 -0.35%
techMARK (TASX) 4,409.15 -0.52%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Avast (AVST) 581.60p 15.35%
Experian (EXPN) 3,077.00p 3.36%
Prudential (PRU) 1,375.00p 2.31%
Kingfisher (KGF) 367.90p 1.55%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,170.00p 1.35%
Evraz (EVR) 614.60p 0.92%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 14,380.00p 0.88%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,862.50p 0.78%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,265.50p 0.71%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,693.00p 0.64%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,407.80p -2.45%
BP (BP.) 297.85p -2.26%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,378.80p -2.14%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 167.50p -2.00%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 91.06p -1.83%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,321.00p -1.57%
British Land Company (BLND) 496.60p -1.43%
Next (NXT) 7,692.00p -1.26%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,983.00p -1.16%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 913.20p -1.15%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Mitie Group (MTO) 66.80p 4.87%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 258.50p 2.38%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 104.10p 1.07%
Wickes Group (WIX) 250.20p 0.97%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 292.20p 0.90%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 450.40p 0.85%
BBGI Global Infrastructure S.A. NPV (DI) (BBGI) 173.00p 0.82%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 22.94p 0.79%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 102.00p 0.79%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,280.00p 0.77%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 49.75p -4.62%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 310.70p -3.30%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,032.00p -2.82%
IP Group (IPO) 118.00p -2.64%
easyJet (EZJ) 820.00p -2.33%
Rank Group (RNK) 165.20p -2.25%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 62.70p -2.18%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 252.80p -2.17%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,515.00p -2.14%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 210.70p -2.05%