London pre-open: Stocks seen lower ahead of US jobs report

Friday's session is predicted to begin with a drop at the opening bell, ahead of the official US government jobs report.

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 12 points lower than Thursday's close of 6,877.97.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its non-farm payrolls (NFP) report and its latest estimate on the unemployment rate. Analysts expect the data to show employers added 230,000 in August compared to 209,000 in July.

The jobless rate is forecast to fall to 6.1% in August from 6.2% a month earlier.

In other news, the final day of the week will also see the release of the Bank of England's (BoE) quarterly survey of inflation expectations.

Thursday's session saw the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decide to keep its main policy rate and the size of its asset purchase facility unchanged at 0.5% and £375bn, respectively, as had been widely expected.

Across the Channel, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi revealed that the Governing Council's decision to cut rates was not unanimous.

The ECB, under pressure to address weak inflation and a stagnant recovery, cut its main refinancing rate by 10 basis points to 0.05% and the deposit facility by another 10 basis points, taking it to -0.20%.

"Yesterday’s move on rates by the ECB certainly surprised many in the markets, judging by the drop in the euro and the sharp rise in European equity markets, and was a significant departure from the normally cautious approach the central bank usually adopts," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

"By cutting rates and pre-announcing new tools in the form of ABS purchases before the measures announced in June have even started smacks of a certain desperation as the economy in Europe slips further into the mire."

He continued: "Later on today the focus shifts to the US economy and the latest employment report for August, which is likely to reinforce the narrative of an improving US economy, and bring forward the prospect of a Fed rate hike in 2015."

Back in the UK, oil and gas group Tullow Oil is to sell its interests in two blocks offshore Netherlands for €62.7m (£50m) as it continues to shed off its gas assets in the North Sea. "The sale of the Tullow's interests in Blocks L & Q is a further step towards the group's planned divestment of our North Sea gas assets in order to focus our business on conventional light oil," said chief executive Aidan Heavey.

Angel Trains, in which International Public Partnerships (INPP) owns a 4.8% stake, has successfully bid to provide 150 new, high quality passenger carriages to Stagecoach South West Trains. The total value of the new trains is more than £220m, of which INPP's pro rata share is expected to be approximately £11m.