London midday: Miners buoy Footsie ahead of US jobs data

Strength in the mining sector kept the FTSE 100 in positive territory on Friday morning, though the index was rangebound ahead of the all-important US jobs report due out this afternoon.A surprise drop in American jobless claims yesterday pushed the S&P 500 to a new all-time high last night as markets headed into today's all-important US employment report with optimism. Consensus forecasts are for a 140,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in April, following a measly 88,000 gain the month before. The jobless rate is expected to remain at 7.6%.As March's figure came in well below the initial estimate for a 200,000 increase in March, forecasts for April have been scaled back somewhat, especially given the worse-than-expected gain (+119,000) in the unofficial ADP jobs report on Wednesday."Yesterday, investors were gifted with better-than-expected weekly jobless claims. However, since US policy officials have already said that their stimulus measures could stop if there are signs of an improving labour market, then a good payrolls figure from the US may not actually incite investors to dive back into equities amidst fears of policy officials removing stimulus measures," said Financial Trader Shavaz Dhalla from Spreadex.Meanwhile, investors were still digesting what has been a busy week for financial markets with monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) taking place as well as a barrage of economic indicators. While the Fed maintained policy on Wednesday, leaving its quantitative easing programme unchanged, the ECB yesterday cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.5% as expected. Helping to support stocks this morning was the UK services purchasing managers' index which rose unexpectedly from 52.4 to 52.9. Analysts were expecting a flat reading.FTSE 100: ENRC leads miners higher; RBS dropsMining stocks were making decent gains this morning as metals prices improved. ENRC was the standout performer, up over 6.0%, followed closely behind by newly merged commodities trader and mining giant Glencore Xstrata on its first day of trading. EVRAZ, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were also in demand.Heading the other way was RBS after its first-quarter results. 'Clean' profit before tax, which excludes one-off costs, came in at £829m in the three months to the end of March, up from £553m recorded in the fourth quarter but well below the consensus estimate of £1,200m. Sector peer Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered fell in sympathy.Drugmaker Shire was extending losses after missing sales forecasts with its first-quarter figures yesterday. UBS cut its target price for the stock today from 2,400p to 2,300p but kept its' buy' rating.FTSE 250: Man Group jumps despite "disappointing" flowsInvestment management firm Man Group jumped this morning despite saying that flows in the first quarter were "disappointing". Nevertheless, the company said that 2013 earnings per share would be helped after a change in its regulatory status boosted surplus regulatory capital, allowing it to call/redeem certain debt securities.Electra Private Equity rose strongly after saying it has received a binding offer from funds advised by BC Partners for Allflex Holdings, its largest investment. The offer, which values Afflex at over $1.3bn, would result in gross proceeds to Electra of $398m.FTSE 100 - RisersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 279.10p +6.36%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 344.45p +4.02%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 793.50p +3.52%Antofagasta (ANTO) 944.00p +3.45%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,009.00p +3.28%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,999.50p +3.25%Evraz (EVR) 153.20p +2.96%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,833.50p +2.89%Polymetal International (POLY) 720.00p +2.27%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,261.00p +2.27%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 289.80p -5.69%BT Group (BT.A) 274.90p -1.50%Aggreko (AGK) 1,724.00p -1.49%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,612.00p -1.39%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,275.00p -1.32%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.64p -1.14%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,343.00p -1.14%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,920.00p -1.03%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,868.00p -0.90%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,604.50p -0.81%FTSE 250 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 116.30p +9.41%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 177.70p +5.96%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 351.60p +5.55%888 Holdings (888) 178.30p +4.57%COLT Group SA (COLT) 118.00p +4.42%Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 2,328.00p +3.79%Ladbrokes (LAD) 195.10p +3.28%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 148.10p +2.70%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 408.00p +2.59%Supergroup (SGP) 714.00p +2.59%FTSE 250 - FallersAfrican Barrick Gold (ABG) 152.50p -6.10%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 305.70p -3.08%Anite (AIE) 122.00p -2.79%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 199.50p -2.11%Telecity Group (TCY) 952.00p -1.81%Home Retail Group (HOME) 141.60p -1.80%Rank Group (RNK) 167.60p -1.41%Alent (ALNT) 324.40p -1.40%Laird (LRD) 213.40p -1.30%KCOM Group (KCOM) 83.80p -1.24%BC