London open: Stocks rally ahead of payrolls report
London stocks rose in early trade on Friday as investors eyed the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 7,591.47.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Some relief may spill over into today’s session, as Amazon made its bid to salvage the situation with a strong report which sent its shares soaring by 17% after the bell. Similarly, Snap and Pinterest were also marked sharply higher. With attention now turning to the non-farms payroll report due later, the effects of the Omicron variant spilling over to January may be a feature of the numbers.
"The consensus is for just 150,000 jobs to have been added, following a disappointing 199000 the previous month, which would confirm the status of near full employment in the US and would also serve as a reminder that interest rate rises are imminent. Of additional interest this month will be the wage growth number, where job shortages in some sectors may well be driving wage inflation, itself underlining the Federal Reserve’s hardening stance."
The payrolls report is due at 1330 GMT, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings. On home turf, Markit’s UK construction PMI for January is at 0930 GMT.
In equity markets, Airtel Africa was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 after the telecoms company reported a sharp rise in third-quarter profit, driven by strong revenue growth.
Travel food outlet operator SSP Group also gained despite saying that the Omicron Covid variant and government restrictions saw trading in the eight weeks to January 30 slump to 57% of pre-pandemic levels.
The Upper Crust owner said recent weeks "have been more encouraging", as curbs were lifted in the UK and some Continental European markets, with sales now trending positively again, driven mainly by strengthening trading in the rail sector as commuter travel returns.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,591.47 0.83%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,067.52 0.45%
techMARK (TASX) 4,416.98 0.60%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Airtel Africa (AAF) 160.70p 2.49%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,385.50p 2.10%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,482.00p 2.01%
BT Group (BT.A) 189.70p 1.96%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 4,043.00p 1.94%
Avast (AVST) 614.00p 1.69%
BP (BP.) 398.90p 1.66%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 633.40p 1.64%
WPP (WPP) 1,180.50p 1.64%
Informa (INF) 558.20p 1.49%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,872.00p -1.92%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,337.50p -1.26%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,914.50p -0.60%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 290.70p -0.58%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 151.05p -0.43%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.14p -0.30%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 572.40p -0.17%
Tesco (TSCO) 296.55p -0.17%
National Grid (NG.) 1,096.00p -0.09%
Meggitt (MGGT) 748.60p -0.08%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 206.80p 2.68%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 469.00p 2.63%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 223.50p 2.34%
Countryside Partnerships (CSP) 311.00p 2.30%
Currys (CURY) 104.80p 2.24%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 827.00p 2.22%
Pantheon International (PIN) 328.00p 2.18%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,070.00p 1.97%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 229.00p 1.55%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 930.00p 1.53%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 180.00p -3.49%
Renishaw (RSW) 4,784.00p -2.37%
Carnival (CCL) 1,363.80p -1.84%
Capita (CPI) 31.23p -1.67%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 984.00p -1.20%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 378.00p -1.05%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 225.60p -0.88%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,230.00p -0.82%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 298.80p -0.73%
Hammerson (HMSO) 39.66p -0.65%