London midday: Markets lower ahead of non-farm payrolls

Markets were trading in a cautious fashion on Friday morning ahead of the eagerly-anticipated employment report from the States due out this afternoon.The FTSE 100 finished 1.3% lower on Thursday at 6,336, its lowest level since April 22nd, as the recent pattern of market volatility continued in anticipation of the key 'risk event' later today - May's reading of non-farm payrolls by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Markets this morning however were rangebound, with just 27 points separating the FTSE 100's intraday low (6,314) and high (6,341), as investors refrained from building positions. Many see this release as one of the determining factors in how the Federal Reserve's potential 'exit strategy' from stimulus will play out in the near future.Analysts' forecasts for non-farm payrolls vary widely but the general consensus is for a gain of around 160,000-170,000."Today's number is being relied upon by many as a barometer for the Fed's likely course of action, but it seems unlikely that one piece of data will inform their decision making process," said Matt Basi, the Head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets. "We'll likely see some market volatility on the back of the release, but the notion that we'll all form a clearer picture of the asset purchase timeframe seems overly optimistic," he said.Markets will also still be reacting to yesterday's move by the European Central Bank (ECB) to slash growth forecasts for the region for this year. The ECB expects the single-currency economy to contract by 0.6% in 2013, worse than its previous -0.5% estimate.Meanwhile, the Bundesbank has cut German growth forecasts and sees risks to the downside as the Eurozone recession continues to weaken demand for German exports. The German central bank cut the growth forecast for this year to 0.3%, from the prior 0.4%. It also revised the 2014 growth estimate down to 1.5% from the prior 1.9%.FTSE 100: Aberdeen drops after BofA downgradeAsset management group Aberdeen was a heavy faller this morning after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating for the stock to 'underperform', saying that its organic inflows could slow significantly from consensus expectations. "With the stock up around 20% year-to-date, the valuation premium to peers looks unwarranted," the broker said.Sainsbury was out of favour this morning after Investec raised concerns with the wider supermarket sector. While the broker said Sainsbury is its favoured stock in the sector, the industry is in the middle of a "major structural transition" and so kept a 'hold' rating on the shares. Tesco was also lower.Chemicals group Johnson Matthey was also in the red this morning, pulling back after a strong rise yesterday. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Goldman have all raised their target prices for the stock this morning following Thursday's well-received full-year results. BG Group fell despite the announcement that a third floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has come on stream offshore Brazil in the pre-salt Santos Basin as it progresses with its development on the massive BM-S-11 block.Mining stocks were performing well this morning with Fresnillo, Glencore Xstrata and Antofagasta among the best performers.FTSE 250: KCOM surges in morning tradeTelecoms and internet communications provider KCOM Group was a high riser after upping its dividend by 10% as promised after a 3.1% rise in pre-tax profit. Sales however fell for a fifth year in a row, down 3.7%.Housebuilder Bellway advanced after saying that the second half has been "encouraging" so far with the government's 'Help to Buy' scheme boosting demand. Reservations averaged 160 per week between the start of February and the end of May, up an impressive 31% with the same period last year. Sector peers Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey rose in sympathy.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,150.00p +3.14%BT Group (BT.A) 309.20p +2.49%Croda International (CRDA) 2,465.00p +2.15%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 317.60p +2.14%Kingfisher (KGF) 341.80p +1.48%Antofagasta (ANTO) 920.50p +1.38%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 245.60p +1.11%Land Securities Group (LAND) 918.00p +1.10%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,298.00p +1.09%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,418.00p +1.07%FTSE 100 - FallersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 405.00p -4.21%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 901.50p -2.28%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 357.10p -1.71%Meggitt (MGGT) 516.00p -1.62%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,287.00p -1.53%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 689.60p -1.49%Sage Group (SGE) 346.40p -1.48%Melrose Industries (MRO) 247.50p -1.47%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 59.98p -1.45%Evraz (EVR) 125.30p -1.34%FTSE 250 - RisersKCOM Group (KCOM) 83.80p +9.04%Spirent Communications (SPT) 134.00p +7.72%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 101.40p +7.47%Petropavlovsk (POG) 138.80p +5.95%888 Holdings (888) 148.00p +5.71%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 139.00p +3.58%Bellway (BWY) 1,350.00p +2.66%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 313.90p +2.62%FirstGroup (FGP) 122.20p +2.60%Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,154.00p +2.43%FTSE 250 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 111.00p -4.39%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 361.50p -3.63%Perform Group (PER) 576.00p -2.70%Henderson Group (HGG) 149.60p -2.29%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 331.60p -2.10%Hays (HAS) 87.70p -2.01%Home Retail Group (HOME) 151.40p -2.01%Telecity Group (TCY) 950.00p -1.96%Hunting (HTG) 800.00p -1.66%Cobham (COB) 265.20p -1.60%