London equities edged up on Friday, as investors turned their focus to upcoming US jobs data for signs on the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
Also, industrial production in Germany shrank in April, while a jump in imports and a decline in exports, including to the US, narrowed the country’s trade surplus, official data showed.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump on a call that ‘to correct the course of the big ship of China-US ties, it is necessary for both sides to set the right direction, and eliminate all kinds of disruptions, even sabotage, which is especially important’, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Meanwhile, topics like US tariffs on the EU and the prospect of a trade deal are said to have barely come up during Trump’s in-person meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, although Merz at one point was silent as Trump talked about his rift with billionaire former advisor Elon Musk.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 13.41 points, 0.2%, at 8,824.45. The FTSE 250 was up 9.13 points at 21,078.51, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.12 points at 754.58.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 878.75, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 18,579.95, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 16,788.20.
Phoenix Group was the FTSE 100’s second-best performer, up 1.5% after Deutsche Bank Research raised it to ’buy’ from ’hold’. SSE led the index, up 1.6%.
Babcock led the laggers, down 1.1%, followed by Anglo American, which lost 1.0%.
On AIM, Ironveld rose 11%.
The strategic metals-focused mining development firm announced that its South African subsidiary has successfully completed its first blast at the Altona farm’s planned opencast pit.
It said the blast ‘marks a significant operational milestone’.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.15 points, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.
In Germany, according to Destatis, seasonally and calendar-adjusted industrial production fell by 1.4% on the month. That followed a revised 2.3% increase in March. On an annual basis, production declined 1.8%.
Separate data from Destatis showed that Germany’s exports declined by 1.7% in April from March, while imports climbed 3.9%. The trade surplus narrowed to €14.6 billion from €21.3 billion the previous month.
Exports to non-EU countries fell 4.8%, including an 11% drop in shipments to the US and a 5.9% fall in exports to China.
The pound was quoted at $1.3547 early on Friday in London, down compared to $1.3596 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at $1.1425, down against $1.1456. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JP¥143.88 compared to JP¥143.57.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.3%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.3%.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3%, the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.8%.
‘Today, all eyes are on the official jobs report,’ Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya noted. ‘The US economy is expected to have added around 130K new nonfarm jobs in May, with average hourly earnings slightly higher month-on-month but slightly lower year-on-year. The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady around 4.2%.
‘A softer-than-expected report could further boost bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates sooner rather than later if wage growth also remains soft.
‘Another upside surprise would support optimism that the US economy is weathering the Trump shock quite well, and probably boost stock market sentiment. Fed funds futures currently price about a 1-in-3 chance of a rate cut in July.’
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.38%, narrowing from 4.39%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.87%, narrowing from 4.89%.
Brent oil was quoted lower at $64.84 a barrel early in London on Friday, from $65.51 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted lower at $3,359.14 an ounce against $3,364.84.
Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar, as well as US nonfarm payrolls, the eurozone has GDP, retail sales and comments from European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde.
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