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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks opened higher Friday, with banking stocks leading the FTSE 100 and the market focused on the US nonfarm payrolls data due in the afternoon.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 1.3% at 6,148.55 points, the FTSE 250 was up 0.6% at 16.857.74 and the AIM All-Share traded up 0.3% at 728.87. In Europe, the French CAC 40 index was up 1.1%, and the German DAX 30 was up 1.0%.
London-listed banking stocks pushed higher at the open after the UK's Financial Conduct Authority said it is opening a consultation on introducing a deadline for consumers to make complaints on mis-sold payment protection insurance, or lose their rights to have the claims assessed by firms or by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Confirming recent press speculation, the City regulator said it intends to consult on a deadline which would fall two years from the date the proposed rule would come into force which, subject to the consultation, would not be before spring 2016, meaning consumers would have until at least spring 2018 to make their complaints.
Standard Chartered, up 3.6%, Lloyds Banking Group, up 2.7%, and Royal Bank Of Scotland, up 2.4%, were amongst the biggest gainers in the FTSE 100.
RBS it has applied for a banking licence for its Williams & Glyn business, the bank it is understood to be planning to float in London in the second half of 2016, The Daily Telegraph reported. Williams & Glyn, which was spun-off from RBS under the terms of its government bailout in 2008, is preparing for a high street launch next year, the Telegraph said.
Legal & General Group was up 1.6% after it said it has secured an agreement with the US arm of Dutch electronics company Royal Philips to provide retirement payments under a group annuity contract.
The contract will cover around 14,000 Philips employees in the US and will cut the company's pension obligations when the contract transfers in December. L&G said the transfer of the USD900.0 million in retiree pension obligations will be split between Legal & General America and The Prudential Insurance Company of America, with each insurer providing 50% of the total monthly benefits.
In the red, Experian was the worst performer in the FTSE 100 on the news that 15 million US customers of mobile network operator T-Mobile could have had their personal data stolen, after hackers attacked the London-listed credit data agency.
The hackers accessed Experian's records about consumers who applied for T-Mobile USA postpaid services between September 2013 and September 2015, the two companies said.
"These records include information such as name, address and birthdate as well as encrypted fields with Social Security number and ID number (such as driver's license or passport number)," German-owned T-Mobile said in a statement.
In the UK economic calendar, construction purchasing manager's index is due at 0930 BST.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson said it is "expected to paint a slightly more positive outlook than yesterday?s manufacturing PMI which, while slightly better than expected, showed that manufacturers were starting to cut jobs for the first time in nearly two years on the back of slowing demand."
On Thursday, survey figures from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and Markit Economics showed that UK manufacturing activity expanded at the weakest pace in three months in September. The PMI fell slightly to 51.5 in September from 51.6 in August, which was revised up from 51.5. Economists had forecast the index to fall to 51.3.
UK Construction PMI is expected to improve modestly to 57.5, from a previous reading of 57.3 in August.
Investors will later focus on US nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate data, which are due at 1330 BST, as speculation about when the US Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates continues. The Federal Open Market Committee left rates unchanged at 0-0.25% in its last monetary policy meeting, addressing concerns on global economic developments, especially in China. The next FOMC meeting is scheduled for October 27-28.
"Comments from various Fed officials, including Fed Chair [Janet] Yellen, have expressed support for a lift-off before year end, although interest rate markets put the probability of a move this year at around 40%," said Nikesh Sawjani, economist at Lloyds Bank. "While external developments are likely to remain key, the domestic picture will also remain a key consideration, especially developments in the labour market."
Lloyds Bank said it expects the US employment report to show continued tightening of the labour market, with nonfarm payrolls forecast to increase by 200,000 in September, while the unemployment rate is forecast to stay at a seven-year low of 5.1%.
According to FXStreet.com, economist expectations for US nonfarm payrolls are for the data to come in at 203,000 in September, after a previous reading of 173,000 in August.
Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Stanley Fisher speaks before the "Macro prudential Monetary Policy" conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston at 1800 BST. Before that, there are US factory orders data due at 1500 BST.
Wall Street ended lower Thursday, albeit recovering after weak trading throughout the session. The DJIA closed down 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both finished down 0.2%.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed flat. In China, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is up 2.8%, after being closed for Chinese National Day on Thursday. Meanwhile, Shanghai remains closed until next week to celebrate the festival.
Also in the economic calendar, the eurozone producer price index is due at 1000 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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