(Alliance News) - Stock trading in London is set for a subdued start on Friday, as traders slip into a wait-and-see mode ahead of the monthly US job report.
Investors are "going to remain on the edge" ahead of the print, said AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam.
"One particular factor that has damped the expectation for today's US NFP number is the US ADP number released earlier this week. The number missed the forecast significantly, and this should be considered an alarming sign for traders," he said.
Wednesday's ADP figure for July job creation disappointed at 330,000, well below both the 680,000 jobs added in June and consensus forecasts, according to FXStreet, of 695,000.
Friday's report, due at 1330 BST, is expected to show the US added 870,000 jobs in July, up from 850,000 in June.
In early UK company news, London Stock Exchange Group lifted its guidance for Refinitiv cost synergies after a good start to 2021, and Hikma raised its outlook for its Generics arm.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 6.7 points, or 0.1%, at 7,127.30 on Friday. The index of large-caps closed down 3.43 points, or 0.1%, at 7,120.43 on Thursday.
The dollar was advancing ahead of the all-important US jobs figure.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3921 early Friday, lower than USD1.3935 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.1827 early Friday, soft on USD1.1843 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY109.82 versus JPY109.71.
Gold softened to USD1,800.59 an ounce early Friday from USD1,802.55 on Thursday.
In early UK company news, London Stock Exchange Group said it started the year well with cost savings from its integration of new acquisition Refinitiv running ahead of plan.
Revenue for the first half of 2021 jumped to GBP2.99 billion from GBP877 million a year ago, with pretax profit nearly doubling to GBP510 million from GBP262 million.
"LSEG has delivered a good financial performance in the first half of the year, reflecting revenue growth across all divisions," said Chief Executive David Schwimmer.
LSEG said the "favourable outlook" supports a 7% increase in its interim payout to 25.0 pence.
The firm added it progressed its integration of Refinitiv in the half-year, and its cost synergy programme is ahead of plan with GBP77 million realised in the period. As a result, it raised full-year run-rate cost synergy guidance to GBP125 million from GBP88 million.
LSEG finally completed its USD27 billion acquisition for financial market data and infrastructure provider Refinitiv in January after first making its interest clear back in July 2019.
"Revenue synergies have had a good start, at GBP4 million run-rate achieved, though will take time to build while requiring upfront investment already included within our stated investment expectations," LSEG said.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals reported interim profit growth and lifted the full-year outlook for its Generics division.
Revenue for the first half of the year rose 7% to USD1.22 billion as all three divisions - Generics, Global Injectables and Branded - performed well. Pretax profit rose 16% to USD319 million from USD274 million.
Generics delivered "strong" revenue growth and significant margin improvement, while Global Injectables saw modest sales growth after a stellar showing a year ago. Branded achieved double-digit revenue growth and improved margins.
It now expects Generics revenue in a range of USD810 million to USD830 million for 2021 as a whole, up from previous guidance of USD770 million to USD810 million to reflect a strong performance from recently launched products. Full-year forecasts for the other two units were retained.
Sanne Group confirmed that, after Apex's takeover interest, it is still in merger talks with Cinven and requested a 'put up or shut up' deadline extension.
"Cinven is considering its options and continues to work closely with Sanne regarding a possible offer," said Sanne, a London-based provider of alternative asset and corporate services.
Cinven now has until August 30 - the same deadline as rival suitor Apex - to either announce a firm offer for Sanne or walk away.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.8%, the S&P 500 up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%.
US President Joe Biden's plan for a USD1.2 trillion investment in US infrastructure will face a key step in the Senate on Saturday to come to the floor for a final vote, before heading to the House of Representatives.
After spending hours on Thursday in talks to try to find consensus for a vote on Saturday, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer finally announced late in the day that he was homing in on his goal.
"I believe we're very close to an agreement and see no reason why we can't complete this important bipartisan bill. So I urge both sides to continue working diligently to make it happen," he said.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was flat. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended up 0.4%.
Brent oil was trading at USD71.64 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD70.85 late Thursday.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK)