London afternoon: US jobs data provides fresh impetus

The release of generally favourable US non-farm payrolls data has given London shares fresh impetus.Some disappointing factory data here has failed to dull investor appetite. The March UK manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index PMI fell unexpectedly to 57.1 points, against consensus expectations for a 60.7 reading, after last month's 60.9 point read. Banks, which had been awaiting yesterday afternoon's banking stress test results nervously, are leading the way today, with Barclays, Lloyds and RBS posting good gains. In other news, Marks & Spencer is having a second crack at the French market, 10 years after it withdrew from the country. A first store will be opened on Paris's Champs Elysees later this year, selling women's clothing and food. A website will also be launched, serving the whole of France. BP has signed four new production sharing contracts over 4,800 square kilometres of coal bed methane areas in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The contracts were awarded to BP and its local partners by the Indonesian government. In one of the contracts, BP will have 44% ownership over the contract, while in the other three it will have 45%.The North American spending spree of British Gas owner Centrica shows no sign of abating, with the company paying C$47m (£30m) in cash to Shell Canada Energy for some natural gas assets located in the Wildcat Hills region of Alberta.UK companies lagged behind their peers in Northern Europe in the year to 31 March, the private equity group 3i said in a trading update ahead of its full-year results. The firm said it had seen good progress across the whole business. The shares are sharply lower."There have, however, been marked regional differences, with strong growth in Northern Europe counterbalanced by weaker performance from UK companies," chief executive Michael Queen said.Premier Foods is going well after an upgrade to "over-weight" at Morgan Stanley, which thinks the Branston pickle and Hovis bread owner is well placed to grow having integrated acquisitions.Elsewhere in the foods sector Uniq, the convenience foods supplier, celebrated its first day on AIM (having moved from a full listing) by effectively putting itself up for sale.The company recently underwent a restructuring that wiped out the pension buy-out deficit of more than £400m and left the company's pension fund trustee owning 90.2% of the company. Now, the trustee wishes to cash in some or all of its chips.Optical components maker Gooch & Housego announced its has bought California based acousto-optic manufacturer Crystal Technology for $13.75m.---jh