Morgan Advanced Materials Share News (MGAM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London were mixed Friday midday, with the FTSE 100 dragged lower by mining and oil stocks, as investors await the US nonfarm payrolls report, due at 1330 BST.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.9%, or 53.19 points, at 6,064.06. The FTSE 250 was up 0.1% at 16,670.61 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.57 points at 722.62.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.7%.

Stocks in New York were set for a negative open, before the day's main focus, US nonfarm payrolls. The Dow 30 was called down 0.2% and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were both seen down 0.3%.

Ahead of the release of US unemployment rate and average hourly earnings data, alongside the nonfarm payrolls report, all due at 1330 BST, analysts failed to find a common view on whether the job report will come in ahead or below the March reading.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson expects 200,000 new jobs to be added in the US in April, down from 215,000 in March, while analysts at Societe Generale expect the job report to be "quite strong generally". The French bank is looking for 228,000 new jobs to be added, and a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.9% from the current 5.0%.

SocGen predicts that average hourly earnings will match the 0.3% rise seen in March, and it expects a 2.4% increase on a yearly basis against the 2.3% rise in March. Meanwhile, analysts at Lloyds Bank are looking for 215,000 jobs to be added.

"Despite March's strong gain, the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.0% from 4.9%. However, this was due to an outsized increase in labour market participation so there is a high probability that it will have fallen back to 4.9% in April," said Lloyds.

Also in the economic calendar Friday, the Baker Hughes US oil rig count is due at 1800 BST. Full results of Thursday's UK local elections, including for mayor of London, are not expected until late Friday afternoon or evening.

On the London Stock Exchange, resource stocks were weighing on the FTSE 100 amid lower oil prices. Miners Glencore, down 3.2%, and Anglo American, down 3.1%, were among the worst blue-chip performers. Oil producer BP was dropping 1.4%, while Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares were down 1.7%.

Brent oil was lower for a sixth consecutive session, quoted at USD44.66 at midday, compared to USD45.72 at the close on Thursday. The North Sea benchmark reached its highest level in 2016 a week ago, at USD48.25 a barrel, but has declined since.

Inmarsat was the biggest loser in the FTSE 100, down 4.5%. The satellite communications firm was adding to the losses seen on Thursday, when it fell 7.0%, after it revised down its 2016 revenue guidance. Inmarsat's first-quarter pretax profit declined 39%, and it said the underlying trading environment remains tough, with demand weakening in the first quarter.

InterContinental Hotels Group was down 1.5%. The hotel operator reported slowing growth in revenue per available room in the first quarter of 2016, which it blamed on the earlier timing of Easter and low oil prices, as well as taking a hit from the terrorist attacks in Paris last year.

The group, which owns brands including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Hotels, said group RevPAR grew by 1.5% on a constant currency basis in the first quarter year-on-year, driven by a 1.0% increase in room rates and 0.3 percentage point rise in room occupancy.

However, this slowed from 2.2% growth in the fourth quarter of the prior year, which also slowed from 4.8% growth in the third quarter. Geographically, first-quarter RevPAR grew by 1.9% in the Americas, by 1.4% in Europe, by 2.2% in Greater China, but declined by 1.1% in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Shares in easyJet was down 1.5%. The low-cost airline reported growth in passenger numbers in April year-on-year, but a decline in load factor. EasyJet said it carried 6.1% more passengers in April 2016 than in April 2015, to 6.4 million from 6.0 million. Its load factor, however, slipped by 0.4 percentage points to 90.4% from 90.8%.

On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger numbers rose by 7.4% to 71.1 million from 66.2 million, while load factor increased by 0.5 percentage points to 91.5% from 91.0%.

Gold was finally recovering from four consecutive days of losses, though slowly, with the precious metal quoted at USD1.281.60 an ounce at midday, having stood at USD1,276.39 at the London equities close on Thursday. Gold miners Randgold Resources, up 3.4%, and Fresnillo, up 1.8%, were benefiting from this, but were also recovering from heavy losses suffered this week.

In the FTSE 250, Interserve was down 21%. The support services and construction company said it expects to incur a GBP70.0 million charge in the first half, due to cost overruns and delays in its energy-from-waste contract in Glasgow.

Interserve said its expectations for its UK construction division have been hit "significantly" by a further deterioration in its building contract in Glasgow, and said it now expects net debt to come in GBP35.0 million higher than its previous guidance. The company said the cost overruns and delays relating to its Glasgow contract are coming primarily from issues relating to the design, procurement and installation of the gasification plant, together with continuing challenges with the supply chain.

Meanwhile, Morgan Advanced Materials was up 3.6% after the ceramic materials maker said trading in the first quarter met its expectations and it affirmed its full-year outlook.

Morgan Advanced said trading conditions in the quarter to the end of March were in line with its forecasts and unchanged from its outlook when it published annual results in February. Sales in 2016 to date, on a constant currency basis, are broadly flat year-on-year, the company said. Sales grew in its Thermal Products unit in the first quarter, driven by Asian and European growth and against a relatively soft comparative for the year before.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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