London open: UK stocks decline ahead of US non-farm payrolls

7th Aug 2015 08:38

(ShareCast News) - UK stocks were in the red on Friday as investors continued to process news from the Bank of England and look ahead to the all-important US non-farm payrolls report.BoE Governor Mark Carney on Thursday 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".Speaking at press conference after the bank's Monetary Policy Committee again held interest rates at their six-year lows, Carney also confirmed that, in light of the muted near term outlook for inflation due to commodity prices, "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. Economists said the chances of an interest rate hike before the end of 2015 had now receded.Turning to Friday's agenda, all eyes will be on the non-farm payrolls report due at 1430 BST. Analysts expect the data to show US employers added 225,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is forecast to have held at 5.3% last month.The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring the labour market and economic data in determining the timing of the first increase in interest rates in nine years.Meanwhile, French President François Hollande and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday said a new bailout for the Hellenic nation should be agreed by late August.The leaders held talks in Egypt on the sidelines of a ceremony to inaugurate Egypt's New Suez Canal. Tsipras said the new deal would be agreed soon after 15 August, but Hollande said it would be by the end of the month.Miners and oil producers rallyA measure of mining stocks, including Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo, were topping the FTSE 100 as gold, silver and copper prices rose on the Comex.Oil producers, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Premier Oil and Tullow Oil, recovered from Thursday's slump as crude prices picked up with Brent up 0.8% to $49.94 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.75% to $45.00 at 0858 BST.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.Hikma Pharmaceuticals slumped after the company had its 'reduce' rating reaffirmed by AlphaValue. Market MoverstechMARK 3,213.62 -0.36%FTSE 100 6,740.88 -0.09%FTSE 250 17,706.90 -0.22% FTSE 100 - RisersGlencore (GLEN) 204.40p +2.56%Anglo American (AAL) 795.00p +2.53%Antofagasta (ANTO) 591.50p +1.98%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,197.50p +1.87%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,618.50p +1.67%BP (BP.) 388.95p +1.50%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,529.00p +1.26%Fresnillo (FRES) 647.00p +1.01%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,898.50p +0.72%ARM Holdings (ARM) 954.00p +0.69% FTSE 100 - FallersITV (ITV) 262.40p -3.49%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,327.00p -2.72%Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,123.00p -2.08%Next (NXT) 7,885.00p -1.62%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,673.00p -1.37%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,325.00p -1.30%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,355.50p -1.29%Sky (SKY) 1,086.00p -1.27%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 544.00p -1.18%Capita (CPI) 1,293.00p -1.15% FTSE 250 - RisersPremier Oil (PMO) 126.30p +5.51%IP Group (IPO) 214.70p +4.17%Tullow Oil (TLW) 231.50p +3.21%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 161.00p +2.81%Acacia Mining (ACA) 240.80p +2.51%Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 828.00p +2.29%Aggreko (AGK) 1,155.00p +2.21%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 870.50p +1.99%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 114.30p +1.96%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 616.50p +1.90% FTSE 250 - FallersNMC Health (NMC) 849.50p -4.50%William Hill (WMH) 392.40p -4.50%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 115.90p -2.44%Computacenter (CCC) 749.00p -2.35%Indivior (INDV) 252.50p -2.06%CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,901.00p -2.01%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 959.00p -1.94%Foxtons Group (FOXT) 235.20p -1.59%Ocado Group (OCDO) 391.50p -1.51%Betfair Group (BET) 2,748.00p -1.47% FTSE TechMARK - RisersUCW Limited (UCW) A$0.01 +8.33%Dialight (DIA) 572.50p +4.09%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 930.00p +1.36%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 9.00p +0.45%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,739.00p +0.35%Anite (AIE) 125.75p +0.20%Consort Medical (CSRT) 923.50p +0.16% FTSE TechMARK - FallersKCOM Group (KCOM) 95.00p -2.31%Spirent Communications (SPT) 79.75p -1.54%Ricardo (RCDO) 910.00p -0.38%NCC Group (NCC) 235.25p -0.32%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 200.47 -0.04%