London pre-open: Slow start expected as investors await US jobs data

After setting a new record high the previous session, UK stock markets are expected to open on cautious note on Friday ahead of the all-important US jobs report.

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around five points lower than Thursday’s all-time closing high of 6,961.14.

Thursday’s gains were driven by the European Central Bank (ECB), which announced that its €1.1trn quantitative easing package to boost growth and lift prices would start next week.

The ECB also lowered its forecasts for inflation to just 0% this year, but lifted its growth estimates for the Eurozone economy.

The focus of Friday’s session will be on the non-farm payrolls data Stateside due out at 13:30, with analysts expecting a dip in the unemployment rate from 5.7% to 5.6% in February. Non-farm payrolls are predicted to come in a 235,000, down from 257,000 in December.

Stocks to watch

Thomas Cook has announced a new strategic partnership with investment group Fosun International which will see the latter take a 5% stake in the travel operator. Fosun is investing £91.8m for the issue of over 73.1m shares, and intends over time to purchase further shares on the open market. It wants to increase its shareholding to around 10%.

Alliance Trust has lifted its total dividend for 2014 by 14.3% on top of net asset value (NAV) return of 8.1% and a total shareholder return (TSR) of 9% last year. The company hailed it as a “solid performance that ranked the Trust in the second quartile of all global trusts on both NAV total return and TSR basis over the year”.

Telecoms giant Vodafone has become one of the first companies to adopt a mandatory minimum global maternity policy for its employees, giving women at least 16 weeks of full pay after having a baby. The company said its new policy will support over 1,000 women working or the company every year in countries with little or no statutory maternity care.