London open: Markets up ahead of US jobs report, but RBS falls

3rd May 2013 08:38

London's FTSE 100 index opened broadly flat on Friday morning as a sharp fall from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) offset a strong performance in the mining sector.Investors were still digesting what has been a busy week for financial markets with monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) taking place as well as a barrage of economic indicators. While the Fed maintained policy on Wednesday, leaving its quantitative easing programme unchanged, the ECB yesterday cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.5% as expected. A surprise drop in American jobless claims yesterday pushed the S&P 500 to a new all-time high last night as markets headed into today's all-important US employment report with optimism. Consensus forecasts are for a 140,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in April, following a measly 88,000 gain the month before. The jobless rate is expected to remain at 7.6%.As March's figure came in well below the initial estimate for a 200,000 increase in March, forecasts for April have been scaled back somewhat, especially given the worse-than-expected gain (+119,000) in the unofficial ADP jobs report on Wednesday.Senior Market Analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets said: "The market was caught off guard by a hugely disappointing 88k number, which was put down to concerns about sequester and other spending cuts as well as tax rises at the beginning of the year. We should watch out for a revision to this number."RBS drops early on; miners in demandRBS was a heavy faller this morning after missing forecasts with its first-quarter results. The bank nevertheless saw its bottom line improve substantially in the first three months as the preceding quarter was hit by a number of one-off costs. The bank was also making headlines on reports that the government could sell its stake in the lender by mid-2014.Leading the upside were the miners with ENRC, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, BHP Billion and EVRAZ making decent gains as metals prices improved.Investment management firm Man Group jumped this morning despite saying that flows in the first quarter were "disappointing". Nevertheless, the company said that 2013 earnings per share would be helped after a change in its regulatory status boosted surplus regulatory capital, allowing it to call/redeem certain debt securities.Electra Private Equity rose strongly after saying it has received a binding offer from funds advised by BC Partners for Allflex Holdings, its largest investment. The offer, which values Afflex at over $1.3bn, would result in gross proceeds to Electra of $398m.UK engineer Renishaw fell after pre-tax profits in the third quarter declined following a drop in revenues in the Far East, the group's largest geographical market.Capital & Counties Properties rose after saying its financial position remains strong helped by high demand in the central London retail and residential property market in the first quarter.FTSE 100 - RisersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 269.70p +2.78%Antofagasta (ANTO) 937.50p +2.74%Prudential (PRU) 1,145.00p +2.42%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,965.00p +2.07%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,812.00p +1.68%Polymetal International (POLY) 714.50p +1.49%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,369.00p +1.41%Evraz (EVR) 150.80p +1.34%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,945.00p +1.30%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,179.00p +1.20%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 294.90p -4.04%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,346.00p -1.01%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,070.00p -0.98%Melrose Industries (MRO) 242.00p -0.90%Kingfisher (KGF) 320.80p -0.83%BT Group (BT.A) 276.80p -0.82%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,872.00p -0.69%Aggreko (AGK) 1,739.00p -0.63%easyJet (EZJ) 1,127.00p -0.62%Vodafone Group (VOD) 192.85p -0.57%FTSE 250 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 116.00p +9.13%Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 2,348.00p +4.68%NMC Health (NMC) 298.00p +4.20%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 27.06p +3.56%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 149.20p +3.47%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 411.20p +3.39%888 Holdings (888) 175.10p +2.70%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 341.50p +2.52%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 171.90p +2.50%Ladbrokes (LAD) 193.50p +2.44%FTSE 250 - FallersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 305.60p -3.11%Anite (AIE) 121.70p -3.03%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 157.50p -3.02%Laird (LRD) 210.00p -2.87%Renishaw (RSW) 1,630.00p -1.45%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 200.90p -1.42%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 105.40p -1.13%Telecity Group (TCY) 958.50p -1.13%Playtech Ltd. (PTEC) 628.50p -0.87%Elementis (ELM) 250.70p -0.83%BC