London open: Stocks flat ahead of non-farm payrolls report

London stocks were unchanged in early trade on Friday as investors kept their powder dry ahead of the latest US non-farm payrolls report.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,063.45.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The welcome return to economic growth continues to be tempered by fears of rising prices, as elements of supply and demand remain out of kilter.

"Such inflationary concerns will be revisited after the release of the non-farm payrolls release later today. There is a clear consensus that the reading will be significantly higher than last month’s unexpectedly low number of 266,000, but there is also a particularly wide spread on what the figure might be, ranging from 650,000 to 750,000.

"A particularly strong reading would reignite the debate on monetary policy. While the Federal Reserve continues to maintain its view of inflation as a passing phase, there are nonetheless suspicions that the voices for the tapering of quantitative easing - if not interest rates - are becoming louder. As such, growth stocks have again found themselves in the eye of the storm, especially big technology firms where the tech-focused Nasdaq index has been under renewed pressure."

The payrolls report, unemployment rate and average earnings are all due at 1330 BST.

In equity markets, British Airways owner IAG, engine maker Rolls-Royce and budget airlines easyJet and Wizz Air were among the worst performers following disappointment over the government’s updated travel list. No new countries were added to the ‘safe’ green list on Thursday and Portugal was moved from green to amber.

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa nudged lower after saying it had bought Peruvian packaging company Cartones del Pacifico in Peru for an undisclosed sum.

ContourGlobal was also a little weaker after saying it had agreed, in partnership with Energy Infrastructure Partners, to buy Green Hunter Group, a portfolio of Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) assets in Italy totalling 18 MW for €49.7m.

AstraZeneca ticked a touch higher as it announced the appointment of Aradhana Sarin as its new chief financial officer. Sarin is currently CFO of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which AstraZeneca is in the process of buying.