London open: Stocks pause ahead of non-farm payrolls with FTSE at record high

6th Mar 2015 08:19

UK stocks declined on Friday in spite of some upbeat economic data from Germany, as markets paused at record highs ahead of some key labour-market data in the States later on.The FTSE 100 was down 0.09% at 6,955 early on, pulling back from Thursday's all-time closing high of 6,961.14.Thursday's gains were driven by the European Central Bank (ECB), which announced that its €1.1trn quantitative easing package to boost growth and lift prices would start next week. The ECB also lowered its forecasts for inflation to just 0% this year, but lifted its growth estimates for the Eurozone economy.German industrial output rose by more than expected in January, marking the fifth straight monthly increase and confirming a brighter picture of the Eurozone's powerhouse. German industrial output rose by 0.6% on the month, beating estimates of 0.5%.The focus of Friday's session will be on the non-farm payrolls data Stateside due out at 13:30, with analysts expecting a dip in the unemployment rate from 5.7% to 5.6% in February. Non-farm payrolls are predicted to come in a 235,000, down from 257,000 the month before.Weir Group gains, Thomas Cook surgesShares in British engineering giant Weir Group rose on the back of market chatter that a cash-rich private equity consortium in the US is looking to table a 2,500p per share break-up offer for the group, compared with current prices at around 1,800p.Shares in Thomas Cook jumped after the company announced a new strategic partnership with investment group Fosun International which will see the latter take a 5% stake in the travel operator. Fosun is investing £91.8m and intends over time to increase its shareholding to around 10%.Alliance Trust edged higher as it lifted its total dividend for 2014 by 14.3% after ranking in the second quartile of all global trusts on both net asset value total return and a total shareholder return basis last year.Telecoms giant Vodafone slipped after saying it has become one of the first companies to adopt a mandatory minimum global maternity policy for its employees, giving women at least 16 weeks of full pay after having a baby.Aggreko was lower after Beaufort Securities downgraded its rating on the stock to 'hold'.Market MoverstechMARK 3,184.03 -0.01%FTSE 100 6,955.00 -0.09%FTSE 250 17,343.59 +0.19%FTSE 100 - RisersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,830.00p +5.23%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,165.00p +1.22%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.70p +1.14%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 994.50p +0.96%Babcock International Group (BAB) 978.50p +0.88%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 280.10p +0.83%Prudential (PRU) 1,672.00p +0.81%Aviva (AV.) 574.00p +0.79%Carnival (CCL) 3,061.00p +0.76%Meggitt (MGGT) 559.50p +0.63%FTSE 100 - FallersKingfisher (KGF) 360.50p -1.74%Intu Properties (INTU) 356.90p -1.46%Aggreko (AGK) 1,605.00p -1.23%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,788.00p -0.99%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,118.00p -0.97%Fresnillo (FRES) 729.50p -0.95%Anglo American (AAL) 1,154.00p -0.90%easyJet (EZJ) 1,707.00p -0.87%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,447.50p -0.87%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,501.00p -0.86%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 6.72p +15.35%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 137.50p +14.01%Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 177.50p +3.80%DCC (DCC) 3,985.00p +3.40%Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,055.00p +3.23%BTG (BTG) 767.50p +2.88%Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 175.00p +2.64%AO World (AO.) 188.40p +1.78%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,052.00p +1.35%Countrywide (CWD) 530.00p +1.34%FTSE 250 - FallersAllied Minds (ALM) 530.50p -9.63%Just Retirement Group (JRG) 165.20p -5.49%RPS Group (RPS) 249.80p -3.18%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,464.00p -2.40%Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 343.00p -1.44%Greggs (GRG) 987.50p -1.35%IP Group (IPO) 243.10p -1.18%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 136.40p -1.16%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 307.00p -1.13%Cobham (COB) 318.20p -1.09%