London pre-open: Stocks to open lower as investors mull jobs data

The FTSE 100 was called to open 15 points lower at 7,139.

Figures out earlier from the Office for National Statistics showed that job vacancies hit a record 953,000 in the three months to July, up 168,000 compared to before the pandemic in January to March 2020.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The world of work continues to rebound robustly from the effects of the pandemic."

In corporate news, food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com posted an interim adjusted core earnings loss of €190m as it continued to invest in its businesses and said it had "reached the peak of absolute losses".

The loss compares with a profit of €205m a year ago. Revenue jumped 47% to €2.6bn.

"Improved profitability will be driven by the growth and increased scale of the business, flexibility from the widening price gap, product and technology improvements, operational efficiencies, as well as fee caps which are expected to partly fall away going forward," the company said.

BT Group said Adam Crozier, the current chairman of online fashion retailer Asos, will succeed Jan du Plessis as chairman.

Crozier will join the board as an independent non-executive director and chairman designate with effect from 1 November and will become chairman with effect from 1 December, when du Plessis retires from the board.