London pre-open: Stocks seen flat after US tech earnings, ahead of payrolls

London stocks were set for a steady open on Friday following disappointing US tech results and as investors eyed the latest non-farm payrolls report.

The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,820.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Today’s European open looks set to see a modestly softer open after some weakness in the wake of last night’s earnings numbers from Amazon, Alphabet and Apple."

He said the January payrolls are expected to come in at 189,000, with the unemployment rate set to edge higher to 3.6%.

"Participation rate levels are expected to remain steady at 62.3%, and just below the 62.4% peak we saw during 2022, while average hourly earnings set to fall further to 4.3%," Hewson said.

"A strong payroll number could go some way to prompting a re-evaluation of market pricing, the prospect of rate cuts before the end of the year and prompt a rebound in the US dollar which is on course for its fourth successive weekly decline."

The payrolls report is due out at 1330 GMT, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings.

On home shores, the S&P Global/CIPS services PMI for January is scheduled for release at 0930 GMT.

There was no FTSE 350 corporate news of note out on Friday morning.