London midday: Stocks fall as investors eye payrolls report

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had fallen into the red by midday on Friday as investors eyed the release of the latest US non-farm payrolls report. The FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 8,238.20.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "After a week of steady recovery from Monday's sell-off, the FTSE 100 returned to the back foot on Friday, dragged lower by retail and banking stocks.

"Wall Street paused for breath last night ahead of non-farm payrolls data later and, more significantly, a meeting of the Federal Reserve next week. The Fed isn't expected to cut rates just yet, but investors will be watching closely for any indication a move on this front is coming."

The non-farm payrolls report for May is due at 1330 BST, along with average earnings and the unemployment rate.

Consensus expectations are for 185,000 to have been added in May, versus 175,000 in April and 315,000 in March. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged at 3.9%.

On home shores, data released earlier showed that house prices were largely unchanged last month as the market continued to stabilise.

According to the latest Halifax house price index, average house prices were "static" in May, down just 0.1% on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, house price growth was 1.5%, up from 1.1% in April.

As a result, a typical UK home now costs £288,688.

Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said: "Market activity remained resilient throughout the spring months, supported by strong nominal wage growth and some evidence of an improvement in confidence about the economic outlook.

"A period of relatively stability in both house prices and interest rates should give a degree of confidence to both buyers and selling.

"While homebuyers will continue to respond to changes in borrowing costs, set against a backdrop of limited supply of properties, the market is unlikely to see huge fluctuations in the near term."

There wasn't a whole lot happening on the corporate front, but housebuilder Bellway gained as it kept its guidance for housing completions this fiscal year but lifted its forecast for pricing.

The company now expects selling prices to average £305,000 for the 12 months to 31 July, down from £310,306 last year but ahead of previous guidance of £295,000 due to changes in product mix.

Bellway said it has seen stronger trading through the spring selling seasons, with improved affordability supporting an increase in customer confidence and reservation rates compared to the first half of the financial year.

On the downside, C&C Group plunged after the drinks maker said chief executive Patrick McMahon would be stepping down after accounting errors in the last three years when he was chief finance director.

The company, which makes brands such as Magners cider and Tennent's beer, said corrections to the accounts would result in an aggregate underlying operating profit adjustment charge of €5m.

C&C released unaudited results for the year to February 29 revealing a loss before tax of €111m compared with a profit of €52m a year earlier.



Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,238.20 -0.57% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,612.95 -0.50% techMARK (TASX) 4,829.10 -0.48%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,244.00p 0.62% Unilever (ULVR) 4,412.00p 0.52% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,416.00p 0.50% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,039.50p 0.48% Diploma (DPLM) 4,180.00p 0.48% Next (NXT) 9,324.00p 0.45% National Grid (NG.) 867.80p 0.44% Entain (ENT) 724.60p 0.36% Convatec Group (CTEC) 251.20p 0.32% Whitbread (WTB) 3,001.00p 0.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Prudential (PRU) 738.60p -3.10% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 124.40p -2.93% Fresnillo (FRES) 578.00p -2.53% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,258.00p -2.50% Ocado Group (OCDO) 354.70p -2.15% Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,171.00p -1.94% WPP (WPP) 766.40p -1.59% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.76p -1.58% Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,856.00p -1.54% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 488.10p -1.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 253.40p 1.52% Chemring Group (CHG) 383.50p 1.46% Bellway (BWY) 2,822.00p 1.44% GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 78.00p 1.30% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 336.00p 1.20% Twentyfour Income Fund Limited Ord Red (TFIF) 103.00p 0.98% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,244.00p 0.97% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 45.40p 0.89% Mitie Group (MTO) 119.00p 0.85% JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 970.00p 0.83%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 155.40p -8.16% Discoverie Group (DSCV) 709.00p -3.93% Savills (SVS) 1,118.00p -2.44% Indivior (INDV) 1,283.00p -2.36% Me Group International (MEGP) 168.80p -2.20% Carnival (CCL) 1,169.50p -2.13% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 183.00p -2.03% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 415.40p -1.98% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,180.00p -1.85% Grainger (GRI) 244.00p -1.81%