Share Search
Visit the Share Search
You are here:
(ShareCast News) - A worse-than-expected US non-farm payrolls report and the Bank of England's downward revision to inflation estimates dragged UK equities lower at close of trading on Friday.The US added 215,000 jobs in July, falling short of forecasts of 225,000, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate held at 5.3%, as predicted by analysts.Although the figures were a slight miss against consensus, Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com, said the jobs market has improved, giving the Federal Reserve reason to lift interest rates for the first time in nine years. "Today's figure has given (Fed Chair) Janet Yellen and her Fed colleagues the ammunition to pull the trigger on an interest rate rise next month, and they aren't likely to hold back," he said.Back on this side of the Pond, investors continued to digest the BoE's 'Super Thursday' of the interest rate decision, meeting minutes and Inflation Report.BoE Governor Mark said the timing of a first interest rate hike was drawing closer but the exact time could not be predicted and will be "data dependent". Carney also said it wouldn't be surprising if the next few months see negative inflation.The BoE's Inflation Report, showed officials expect annual inflation to tick back up to the 2% target by the third quarter of 2017 if interest rates rise in line with market expectations.The Bank decided to keep interest rates at 0.5%, with minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealing a vote of 8-1 in favour of this decision while the market had predicted at least two would opt for an increase. Economists said the chances of an interest rate hike before the end of 2015 had now receded.In other UK news, the trade deficit widened in June but slightly less than expected.The Office for National Statistics revealed that the trade deficit in goods alone grew to £9.18bn from £8.4bn, less than the £9.3bn predicted by analysts. The total trade deficit rose to £1.6bn from £885m, compared to estimates of £1.7bn.Meanwhile, the Greek parliament is expected to vote on a third bailout package on 18 August, Reuters reported, quoting a government spokeswoman.The news came as the Athens stock market has closed up 1.45%, but banking shares ended lower after earlier gains. The banking index dropped 1.67% after rebounding 17.8% on Thursday following its 63% decline in the first three days since the market reopened on Monday.Miners regain groundA measure of mining stocks, including Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo, gained as gold, silver and copper prices recovered on the Comex.Royal Dutch Shell advanced on news it has agreed to sell its 75% stake in Tongyi Lubricants in China to Huo's Group and the Carlyle Group for an undisclosed sumOn the downside, ITV's shares dropped on read-across from US peers, after Viacom, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox suffered heavy losses on Thursday.William Hill declined after reporting a 35% fall in pre-tax profit to £78.7m and flat net revenue for the six months to 1 July as it battled through a period of major regulatory and taxation disruption.Pharmaceutical shares were on the backfoot including Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Shire and Astrazeneca.Hikma had its 'reduce' rating reaffirmed by analysts at Alpha Research on Thursday while Shire's hostile takeover approach for US immune deficiencies outfit Baxalta was rebuffed on Tuesday.UK Mail was lower after saying it expects its full-year will be materially below current market forecasts. The group has suffered hitches with its new fully automated facility in Coventry which is struggling to cope with many of the parcel sizes, which were said to be "incompatible" with its new automated sorting equipment. Market MoverstechMARK 3,202.66 -0.70%FTSE 100 6,718.49 -0.42%FTSE 250 17,655.83 -0.51%FTSE 100 - RisersAnglo American (AAL) 800.50p +3.24%Mondi (MNDI) 1,597.00p +2.44%Glencore (GLEN) 203.20p +1.96%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,535.00p +1.66%Antofagasta (ANTO) 589.50p +1.64%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,314.00p +1.39%Meggitt (MGGT) 504.50p +1.37%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,191.00p +1.32%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,906.00p +1.11%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,903.00p +1.01%FTSE 100 - FallersITV (ITV) 262.60p -3.42%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,311.00p -3.39%Schroders (SDR) 3,100.00p -2.24%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,320.50p -2.08%Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,125.00p -1.98%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,300.00p -1.76%Aviva (AV.) 523.00p -1.69%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 804.00p -1.65%3i Group (III) 534.50p -1.57%Vodafone Group (VOD) 241.85p -1.55%FTSE 250 - RisersVedanta Resources (VED) 446.70p +7.90%Aldermore Group (ALD) 280.40p +5.45%Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,849.00p +5.06%Aveva Group (AVV) 2,213.00p +2.79%Premier Oil (PMO) 123.00p +2.76%Tullow Oil (TLW) 228.50p +1.87%Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 824.50p +1.85%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 571.00p +1.78%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 159.20p +1.66%Cobham (COB) 284.20p +1.61%FTSE 250 - FallersEvraz (EVR) 89.60p -10.85%William Hill (WMH) 384.30p -6.47%CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,843.00p -5.00%Renishaw (RSW) 2,119.00p -4.25%NMC Health (NMC) 853.00p -4.10%Vesuvius (VSVS) 397.00p -4.04%Ocado Group (OCDO) 382.50p -3.77%Aggreko (AGK) 1,091.00p -3.45%Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,154.00p -3.35%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 1,029.00p -3.20%FTSE TechMARK - RisersUCW Limited (UCW) A$0.01 +8.33%Triad Group (TRD) 31.00p +5.08%RM (RM.) 185.00p +2.92%BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.25p +2.82%Filtronic (FTC) 10.00p +2.56%SDL (SDL) 390.50p +0.90%Torotrak (TRK) 6.50p +0.85%Gresham Computing (GHT) 97.00p +0.52%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.99p +0.33%Ricardo (RCDO) 916.50p +0.33%FTSE TechMARK - FallersXP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,675.00p -3.35%Spirent Communications (SPT) 79.75p -1.54%KCOM Group (KCOM) 96.00p -1.29%NCC Group (NCC) 234.50p -0.64%E2V Technologies (E2V) 224.00p -0.33%