(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, ahead of the key US non-farm payrolls print.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 48.6 points, 0.6%, at 7,674.47 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 40.74 points, 0.5%, at 7,723.07 on Thursday.
The dollar was stronger against major currencies in early exchanges in Europe.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2668 early Friday, lower than USD1.2696 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.0928, down from USD1.0961. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY145.15, up versus JPY144.48.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slightly higher, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%.
"After such a surprisingly resilient end to 2023 it is perhaps not surprising that we've got off to a more subdued start to the New Year given that a lot of the reason for the December rally was down to heightened expectations of multiple rate cuts from central banks over the next few months," said CMC Markets UK chief market analyst Michael Hewson.
Investors were considering Thursday's US jobs data, which set the stage for the closely-watched non-farm payrolls print due at 1330 GMT on Friday.
The US labour market added more jobs than expected in December, according to a tracker from payroll processing firm ADP.
ADP said sector employment increased by 164,000 jobs in December, picking up from a 101,000 rise in November and ahead of the FXStreet cited consensus of 115,000. The November total of jobs added was revised from 103,000 to 101,000.
Meanwhile, US new jobless claims fell by more than expected in the most recent week.
According to the US Department of Labor, new jobless claims totalled 202,000 in the week ended December 30. This is down from last week's revised level of 220,000. The latest reading came in lower than FXStreet-cited consensus of 216,000.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.
Gold was quoted at USD2,0421.85 an ounce early Friday, a touch lower than USD2,045.01 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD78.11 a barrel, higher than USD76.60.
In Friday's UK corporate calendar, there are no events scheduled.
Late Thursday, Endeavour Mining said it has sacked its Chief Executive Sebastien de Montessus, for "serious misconduct" with immediate effect.
The gold miner with assets in nations including Senegal and Burkina Faso said the move followed an investigation into an irregular payment instruction issued by him in relation to an asset disposal undertaken by the company.
De Montessus responded to the allegations, saying in 2021 he had instructed a creditor to "offset an amount owed to the company to pay for essential security equipment to protect our partners and employees in a conflict zone". This had "no additional cost to the company" and "did not benefit [him] personally in any way", he maintained. However, de Montessus conceded that omitting to inform the board of the arrangement was "a lapse in judgement".
As well as the US NFP data, the economic calendar for Friday has eurozone inflation readings at 1000 GMT. Before that, there is the UK Halifax house price index at 0700 GMT.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor
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Endeavour Mining (EDV)