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LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices are mixed midday Thursday, with Greece shifting to the background for a while as investors reposition ahead of US nonfarm payrolls data later in the afternoon, looking for any clues on when the US Federal Reserve will hike the US interest rates.
"The monthly employment report has usually been seen as the key release of the month and that the Federal Open Market Committee has made 'further improvement' in the labour market as one of the criteria it wishes to see met before it starts to raise interest rates, has underlined its importance," says Lloyds Bank.
"Other indicators have suggested that economic growth has picked up in the second quarter and we expect to see this reflected in a solid June payrolls report today," says Lloyds. "Initial jobless claims have remained low during June, while yesterday?s ADP estimate of private sectors payrolls was higher than expected at 237.000."
US nonfarm payrolls, unemployment and earnings data are all expected at 1330 BST while US factory orders are due at 1500 BST.
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler says nonfarm payrolls are expected to show 231,000 jobs were created in June, saying that anything near the 280,000 seen last month could send US stocks lower.
"A high number that implies a rate hike as early as September could be used by investors as a chance to lighten up exposure to equities before the Greek vote during the long US holiday weekend," Lawler says. "Average hourly earnings expected to rise 0.2%, down from 0.3%, the result will be important for the inflation outlook."
US stock markets will be closed Friday due to the Independence Day celebration.
Wall Street is pointed to a higher open, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 pointed up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq 100 up 0.2%.
The FTSE 100 index trades up 0.2% at 6,624.63, the FTSE 250 is down 0.2% at 17,690.05 and the AIM All-Share is down 0.1% at 761.41.
European stock markets are taking a breath after Wednesday's gains, with the CAC 40 in Paris down 0.1% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt flat.
The Greek situation continues to remain a concern for investors as Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselboem said there will be no negotiations between Greece and its creditors until after the referendum on bailout conditions on Sunday.
"There will be no talks in the coming days, either at Eurogroup level or between the Greek authorities and the institutions on proposals or financial arrangements. We will simply await now the outcome of the referendum on Sunday and take into account the outcome of that referendum," Dijsselboem said.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis once again reiterated his support for the 'No' campaign and said he will resign if the country votes 'Yes' in the upcoming referendum. Varoufakis also reiterated his view that debt restructuring was key to a deal for Greece, adding that he would rather cut off his arm than sign a deal without debt renegotiation. However, he did add that on other aspects, Greece and its creditors are very close in their opinion.
Asked whether he would still be finance minister by Monday evening if a majority backs the reforms demanded by creditors, Varoufakis replied, "I will not."
A GPO poll conducted for French bank BNP Paribas showed 47.1% of people planned to vote "yes" or were likely to, while 43.2% said they would vote against it or were leaning toward "no." Another poll, published Wednesday, had given the no-vote had a clear, but dwindling, lead.
On the London Stock Exchange, Dixons Carphone is up 1.6% after it said its Connected World Services arm has signed a deal with US mobile carrier Sprint Corp to open and manage a number of Sprint-branded stores in the US.
Initially, the electricals retailer will supply mobile phone retail expertise to Sprint for 20 new stores. If successful, the scheme will then be rolled out further, with plans to open up to 500 stores. Investec says that, assuming a full roll-out, the deal will positively impact profit in three to four years, but will be neutral in years one and two.
A number of broker changes also are driving stock movements, with AstraZeneca up 1.0% after Berenberg raised it to Buy from Hold. Intertek Group is down 2.2% after Jefferies cut it to Underperform from Hold, and Jimmy Choo is up 2.7% after Barclays initiated coverage of the company with an Overweight rating.
In the AIM All-Share, Spectra Systems is up 2.1%. The authentication technology supplier said it has signed a nine-year supply deal with an unnamed Chinese secure documents manufacturer. The contract covers the supply of at least USD5.6 million of high-margin materials by Spectra and up to USD0.5 million in hand-held readers over the course of the contract. The terms of the deal also requires a minimum annual materials revenue of GBP0.625 million, whether or not the materials are ordered.
Meanwhile, Coal of Africa is down 13%. The company said the sale of its Mooiplaats Colliery asset in South Africa to Blackspear Capital has been cancelled and said it now in talks to find another buyer.
Coal of Africa's sale of the colliery asset was agreed earlier this year but has been delayed on two occasions to allow more time for Blackspear to provide proof of funding to back the ZAR250 million sale. The deadline for the offer had been extended to June 30, but this has now lapsed and will not be extended further, Coal of Africa said.
Strategic Minerals is down 10% after the company said buying more projects is "imperative" as the Cobre mine in New Mexico is not sufficient to cover its overheads. In a statement set to be given at its annual general meeting, Managing Director John Peters said that while the Cobre mine remains profitable, this is not sufficient to meet its corporate overheads.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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