Precious metals miners jump as Fed rate hike calls pushed back

As 18:43 BST the US dollar spot index was only lower by 0.08% to 93.71, but that was enough to push COMEX-traded gold futures for delivery in June higher by 1.72% to $1,294.20 per troy ounce. In parallel, stock in Randgold Resources (6.57% to 6,165p) and Fresnillo (+6.16% to 1,103.0p) were set right to the top of the leaderboard for the Footsie.

Centamin shot 9.26% higher in tandem to 121.5p - a fresh 52-week high - on the second-tier index.

Interest rate sensitive stock such as real estate investment trusts also did well, as did some of the highest yielding stocks on the Footsie, such as Pearson.

US non-farm payrolls increased by 160,000 in April, moderately below the 200,000 person gain which analysts had penciled in. Furthermore, estimates for the previous two months of data were revised lower by a combined 19,000.

"On net, the softening in April payroll growth, led by the service-providing sector, will likely raise concerns over the sustainability of US growth.

"We now only expect one rate hike in 2016, in September, down from two hikes previously, as we believe it will take longer for policymakers to accumulate sufficient evidence that economic and labor market activity is rebounding after a soft start to the year," Michael Gapen, Rob Martin and Jesse Hurwitz at Barclays said in a research report sent to clients.

"If the economy improves along the lines of our baseline forecast, there is a risk of a second rate hike this year in December" they added.

Shares in aero-engine and power systems manufacturer Rolls Royce also got a leg up from news that finance chief David Smith had picked up almost £40,000-worth of shares on the previous day.

Shares in financial services firms were weaker despite that push-back on Fed rate hike expectations, although it was shares of Asia-focused lenders such as StanChart and HSBC which acted as the biggest drag.

Lenders over in the States were trading slightly in the green in the aftermath of the jobs report.

Inmarsat also weighed on its sector as markets brought the provider of satellite telecommunications services into a lower orbit a day after it warned on revenues.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Engineering 7,942.63 +2.22%
Aerospace and Defence 4,088.23 +1.98%
Electricity 8,819.69 +1.75%
Mining 9,436.06 +1.37%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 3,127.28 +1.00%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Fixed Line Telecommunications 5,049.36 -1.54%
Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,147.99 -1.16%
Financial Services 8,480.44 -0.95%
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,287.23 -0.83%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 12,023.73 -0.64%