London open: Stocks fall ahead of payrolls report

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Friday as investors eyed the release of the latest US non-farm payrolls report. At 0820 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 7,671.71.

The payrolls report for December is due out at 1330 GMT, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings. Expectations are for 170,000 jobs to have been added, compared to 199,000 in November, while the unemployment rate is expected to have ticked up to 3.8% from 3.7%.

Before that, the S&P Global/CIPS December construction PMI for the UK is scheduled for release at 0930 GMT.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 has shed points today, as a lack of major corporate news means there's nothing to offset anxiety about core US jobs data published later today. The data will help mould expectations for the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision, which has read-across for the fortunes of the UK. If the labour market shows signs of being too hot, it could add weight to the idea that rates will need to be held or raised.

"Expectations for rate cuts in March have come off the boil compared to a week ago, but this remains the market's prediction overall. This is by no means guaranteed though - Fed commentary and market expectations aren't fully on the same page."

On home shores, data released earlier by Halifax showed that house prices rose again in December as mortgage rates fell.

House prices picked up 1.1% on the month following a 0.6% increase in November. This marked the third monthly increase in a row following six consecutive declines, and left the average price of a home at £287,105.

On the year, house prices rose 1.7% in December following a 0.8% decline the month before.

Kim Kinnaird, director, Halifax Mortgages, said: "Whilst it's encouraging that we saw growth in the last three months of the year, this was preceded with property price falls for six consecutive months between April and September.

"The growth we have seen is likely being driven by a shortage of properties on the market, rather than the strength of buyer demand. That said, with mortgage rates continuing to ease, we may see an increase in confidence from buyers over the coming months."

Investors were also mulling the latest figures from BRC-Sensormatic IQ, which showed that British shoppers headed out more reluctantly during the usually busy holiday period, with retail footfall seeing a notable decline.

Total UK footfall saw a 5% year-on-year decrease from 26 November to 30 December - a marked decline from November's -0.7% year-on-year change.

High street footfall saw a 4.2% decrease in December compared to the same month the prior year, with November reporting a more modest -1.7% change.

Retail parks saw a 4.8% fall in footfall in December, a significant drop compared to the -1.0% change recorded in November.

However, shopping centres were hit the hardest with a substantial 7.4% decline in footfall in December, marking a notable drop from November's -2.2% change.

"December's heavy rain left many shoppers reluctant to brave the elements, who instead opted to browse online before making final purchases, or shop online altogether," said British Retail Consortium chief executive officer Helen Dickinson.

"This led to a substantial decline in footfall levels compared to December 2022, when there was significant pent-up demand for in-store shopping post-Covid restrictions.

"Some cities, such as Edinburgh, bucked the trend, and saw footfall levels rise in December thanks to recent investment in new, exciting shopping destinations."

Corporate news was thin on the ground, but Endeavour Mining tanked after it announced late on Thursday that president and chief executive Sebastien de Montessus had been dismissed with immediate effect for "serious misconduct".

The sacking follows an investigation by the board into "an irregular payment instruction issued by him in relation to an asset disposal undertaken by the company".

The amount of this irregular payment instruction is $5.9m and Endeavour said the board recently became aware of it in the course of a review of acquisitions and disposals, which is ongoing.

On the upside, shipping services provider Clarkson surged as it lifted annual guidance after strong trading during the final quarter of 2023, driven by its broking division. Underlying pre-tax profit is now expected to be at least £108m for the 12 months to December 31.

In broker note action, Experian was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 following an upgrade to 'outperform' at Exane, but Mondi fell after a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Jefferies.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,671.71 -0.67% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,295.57 -0.39% techMARK (TASX) 4,270.10 -0.57%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Experian (EXPN) 3,082.00p 1.02% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,860.00p 0.10% Tesco (TSCO) 302.70p 0.10% F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 938.00p 0.00% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,694.00p 0.00% Convatec Group (CTEC) 242.60p 0.00% GSK (GSK) 1,539.60p -0.01% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,155.00p -0.04% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 144.10p -0.07% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,508.00p -0.18%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

RS Group (RS1) 799.00p -2.99% IMI (IMI) 1,580.00p -1.99% Mondi (MNDI) 1,507.50p -1.95% Diageo (DGE) 2,755.00p -1.90% Croda International (CRDA) 4,593.00p -1.59% Next (NXT) 8,424.00p -1.47% Barclays (BARC) 153.40p -1.40% Rightmove (RMV) 551.80p -1.29% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 546.00p -1.27% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 151.40p -1.24%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 282.40p 4.75% Me Group International (MEGP) 125.00p 4.52% AJ Bell (AJB) 310.40p 4.44% Tullow Oil (TLW) 38.06p 2.86% Mitie Group (MTO) 101.00p 2.12% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 195.00p 1.67% Bellway (BWY) 2,582.00p 0.94% Indivior (INDV) 1,206.00p 0.84% Bodycote (BOY) 595.50p 0.76% Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 904.30p 0.72%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 191.60p -4.68% NCC Group (NCC) 120.00p -3.23% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 300.00p -2.72% Spectris (SXS) 3,580.00p -2.64% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 135.00p -2.46% Moonpig Group (MOON) 150.40p -2.34% Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 2,125.00p -2.30% AO World (AO.) 90.00p -2.01% Currys (CURY) 49.10p -1.80% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 486.50p -1.72%