London close: Stocks swing into the red as US data smashes forecasts

5th Jul 2013 16:45

The eagerly anticipated US jobs report didn't fail to disappoint on Friday, smashing consensus forecasts and sparking a surge in the dollar; but equity markets in the UK quickly dropped into the red with mining stocks providing a drag as metals prices fell.With an impressive 195,000 non-farm payrolls added to the US economy in June - well ahead of the 165,000 forecast - and previous months' numbers being revised higher, the Federal Reserve is now widely expected to start scaling back its stimulus programme as early as September.The FTSE 100 had jumped 3.1% on Thursday on the back of dovish comments by the Bank of England and European Central Bank, as central-bank chiefs Mark Carney and Mario Draghi sought to give more forward guidance on interest rates staying low for the near future."With stock markets already absorbing the surprise from yesterday's forward guidance bombshells from Draghi and Carney, the better-than-expected payroll numbers has seen equity markets caught in two minds between the prospect of the imminent prospect of tapering, and the benefits of an economic recovery," said Senior Market Analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets.Investors cheered the data initially with the London index rising close to 6,500, before quickly erasing gains and slipping into negative territory. The FTSE 100 finished the session down 46 points at 6,376.FTSE 100: Miners provide a drag as metals prices dropMining and metals stocks were under heavy selling pressure on Friday afternoon following a much better-than-expected US jobs report, as a stronger dollar dampened the price of metals across the board. Gold was down 3.3%, silver fell 4.7% and copper dropped 3.6%, with all three commodities trading around a one-week low.Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Glencore Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Vedanta were registering heavy falls by afternoon trade.UBS cut its recommendation for restaurant and hotel firm Whitbread from 'buy' to 'neutral', causing the stock to fall sharply today. The broker raised concerns with the firm's international hotel expansion and said that it was too early to gauge the financial impact of its new concept for compact city-centre hotels.Defence and aerospace engineering group firm Meggitt was also lower after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'hold', citing "insufficient upside" since the share price has surpassed its target.Heading the other way was real estate group British Land after acquiring a majority of Paddington Central, a, 11-acre mixed use estate in London's West End. Sector peer Land Securities was also higher.FTSE 100 - RisersTravis Perkins (TPK) 1,556.00p +2.03%Land Securities Group (LAND) 939.00p +1.35%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 123.00p +1.23%British Land Co (BLND) 591.50p +1.20%Schroders (SDR) 2,260.00p +1.07%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 372.50p +1.06%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,237.00p +0.81%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,373.00p +0.81%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 462.70p +0.63%Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,014.00p +0.63%FTSE 100 - FallersGlencore Xstrata (GLEN) 256.85p -6.51%Antofagasta (ANTO) 784.50p -6.05%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,050.00p -5.84%Fresnillo (FRES) 886.50p -5.84%Vedanta Resources (VED) 992.00p -5.34%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,636.00p -4.41%Anglo American (AAL) 1,217.00p -3.64%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,666.50p -3.64%Whitbread (WTB) 3,106.00p -2.79%Melrose Industries (MRO) 264.00p -2.76%FTSE 250 - RisersDunelm Group (DNLM) 1,018.00p +7.16%Xaar (XAR) 840.00p +6.60%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 535.50p +3.98%Kier Group (KIE) 1,268.00p +3.93%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 116.00p +3.57%COLT Group SA (COLT) 104.40p +3.47%Redrow (RDW) 245.60p +3.24%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 391.10p +2.89%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 311.50p +2.84%Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 1,115.00p +2.77%FTSE 250 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 251.60p -6.36%Polymetal International (POLY) 472.40p -6.18%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 160.40p -5.70%Carillion (CLLN) 263.10p -4.81%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 284.70p -4.01%Lonmin (LMI) 270.70p -3.67%Evraz (EVR) 100.10p -3.38%Electrocomponents (ECM) 241.90p -3.20%Chemring Group (CHG) 288.40p -3.09%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 323.90p -2.97%