London pre-open: Stocks seen lower ahead of non-farm payrolls

London stocks are called to open in the red, taking their cue from downbeat sessions in the US and Asia, amid disappointment over the European Central Bank’s latest policy measures.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 40 points lower than Thursday’s close at 6,235.

With no major UK data due, all eyes will be on the US later, where the all-important nonfarm payrolls report for November is due at 1330 GMT, along with the unemployment rate and trade balance figures for October.

“Today’s US jobs report could be key, as Fed officials look for further evidence that the economy is well placed to absorb a rate hike,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“Last month’s report was exceptional and far beyond what is required to warrant a hike. Unless we see a substantial downward revision to the October numbers, I find it difficult to envisage a report today that could make Fed officials question the decision to hike this month. While the markets would probably respond very negatively to a non-farm payrolls number of around 100,000, I don’t think even this would be enough to deter Fed officials so the bar really is very low.”

Berkeley interim profit drops

Interim pre-tax profits at property group Berkeley 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, “given in particular the visibility afforded to it by its land bank and cash due on forward sales, and to provide a successful and sustainable business thereafter".

easyJet has reported 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.

Pub operator JD Wetherspoon said it was taking action after discovering that some customer and staff information has been accessed illegally by a third party.

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