Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices are set to open slightly lower, ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls data due at 1330 BST, which investors will watch closely as they wonder when the US Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates.
According to FXstreet.com, economists expect a decline to 222,000 in July from a previous reading of 223,000, while Lloyds Bank expects an employment gain of 230,000, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.3%.
The data comes after payroll processor ADP released a report on Wednesday showing that the pace of private sector job growth slowed by more than expected to 185,000. It was expected to be at 215,000.
On Thursday, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits saw some further upside in the week ended August 1. It came in at 270,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 273,000.
"Expectations about a possible Fed move on rates in September have been building since last week?s Federal Open Market Committee meeting and US GDP revisions, and if anything this week?s US data has served to reinforce this particular narrative, though here, as in the UK, the narrative is anything but clear cut," says CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.
Hewson notes that the debate about a rate rise in the US could well develop along similar lines as the Bank of England, "the only difference being that the Fed does seem to be in a hurry to get the first rate hike in, before the beginning of next year, given the looming proximity of the [US] Presidential elections, just over a year from now."
The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and FOMC member Dennis Lockart said on Tuesday that the US economy is ready for its first increase in short-term rates and added it would take a significant deterioration in economic data to convince him not to push for a rate hike in September.
On Thursday, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted to maintain its bank rate at 0.50% in the policy session that concluded Wednesday, which was the first split vote this year. One of the MPC members, Ian McCafferty, voted to hike the base rate by 25 basis points, meaning the MPC vote was 8-1. Analysts were broadly expecting a 7-2 vote, as they expected MPC member Martin Weale to join McCafferty in supporting a lift of interest rates.
However, UK policymakers unanimously decided to keep its assets purchase target at GBP375 billion.
The central bank for the first time released the minutes of the session along with the monetary policy decision announcement on Thursday.
"Inflation expectations remain well anchored," the central bank said. The MPC judged that demand growth would be sufficient to return inflation to the 2% target within two years. The two-year term inflation outlook was almost unchanged from the prior estimate. The bank forecast 2.8% growth for this year, which is larger than the prior estimate of 2.6%. Growth is forecast to moderate to 2.6% next year, which was unchanged from the May estimate.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 5 points lower at 6,742.70. The index closed down 0.1% at 6,747.09 on Thursday.
Wall Street ended lower Friday. The DJIA closed down 0.7%, the S&P 500 ended down 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite finished down 1.6%.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed up 0.3%. In China, the Hang Seng is up 0.7% and the Shanghai Composite is up 1.8%.
On the UK corporate front, William Hill on Friday reported Friday a drop in profit in the first half of 2015 as it was hit by tax hikes and a tough comparative period, and said it has bought a stake in online lottery company NeoGames. The bookmaker reported a 35% drop in pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended June 30 to GBP78.7 million from GBP121.8 million in the first half of the prior year. Revenue, however, grew to GBP808.1 million from GBP805.2 million.
Meanwhile, FTSE 250-listed housebuilder Bellway said it sold more houses at higher prices in its 2015 financial year and said its forward order book leaves its looking strong moving into the new year. The company said it sold 7,752 homes in the year to the end of July, up 13% from the 6,851 it sold a year earlier, with the average selling price of those homes rising to GBP224,000 from GBP213,182.
SSP Group said it has agreed to acquire 32 bakery outlets in Germany from Wiener Feinbäckerei Heberer for around GBP5 million in cash. SSP operates food and beverage concessions in travel locations such as airports, train stations and motorway service stations.
It said the bakery outlets sell products in travel locations in Germany, with 30 of them located in railways stations, and two in airports. The value of the gross assets being acquired is around GBP5 million, and the assets produced a profit of around GBP1 million in 2014.
Jefferies lifted its Astrazeneca price target to 5,600 pence from 5,400p, keeping a Buy recommendation, while it raised GlaxoSmithKline price target to 1,500p from 1,350p, reiterating a Hold stance.
In the economic calendar, alongside US nonfarm payrolls later in the day, UK Goods Trade Balance is due at 0930 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
