London pre-open: Stocks to tick lower ahead of payrolls

London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Friday as investors eyed global trade developments and looked ahead to the release of the US non-farm payrolls report.

The FTSE 100 was called to open six points lower at 7,313.

On the data front, Halifax house prices are at 0830 BST, while the US non-farm payrolls report is at 1330 BST, along with the unemployment rate.

The payrolls number is expected to show an improvement on the disappointing 157k headline number in July, which again would appear to show that the amount of new jobs is starting to become scarcer, said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

"Expectations are for 198k new jobs for August with the unemployment rate set to fall further from 3.9% to 3.8%.

"Of greater importance given the slowing in the headline numbers for US jobs will be the wages numbers, which if they don’t start to edge up towards 3% could actually start to act as a welcome headwind to the advance in the US dollar. Expectations are for wages to remain unchanged at 2.7%, however any move back towards the highs this year at 2.9% will put further upward pressure on the US dollar, as well as exerting further pressure on emerging markets.

"What today’s numbers won’t do is change the probability of a US rate rise this month, as that still remains a done deal in the eyes of the markets."

Market participants will also be watching out for any announcements from the US, which could slap tariffs on a further $200bn of Chinese goods.

In corporate news, healthcare company BTG said it was paying up to $130m in cash to buy Ireland-based Novate, which specialises in the prevention of pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients at high risk of venous thromboembolic events.

BTG will pay $20m in cash up front with more forthcoming “if certain commercial and sales-related milestones are met”. The transaction is expected to be accretive to adjusted EPS from the second full year of ownership, BTG said.

Greene King said positive momentum in its Pub Company unit continued through the summer with like-for-like (LFL) sales up 2.8% for the first 18 weeks of the year, ahead of the market, which was up 1.2%.

Growth over the last 10 weeks was 3.2%.

"This strong performance was underpinned by the ongoing benefits from our sales driving investment...and boosted by the weather and a successful World Cup," the company said.

Playtech has sold around 11.4 million shares in Plus500 - its entire stake - at 1,550p per share, realising gross proceeds of approximately £176m that will be used for general corporate purposes and debt reduction.

The company said on Friday that the sale will not impact its entitlement to the interim dividend announced in August, which is equivalent to around $16m.

The stake represents just under 10% of Plus500's issued share capital and following completion of the sale, Playtech will no longer hold any interest in the group.

AstraZeneca and its partner Amgen have been granted ‘breakthrough therapy designation’ by the US Food and Drug Administration for tezepelumab in patients with severe asthma, without an eosinophilic phenotype, who are receiving inhaled corticosteroids or long-acting beta2-agonists with or without oral corticosteroids and additional asthma controllers.

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the designation was based on the tezepelumab Phase IIb PATHWAY data, which showed a “significant” reduction in the annual asthma exacerbation rate compared with placebo in a broad population of severe asthma patients irrespective of patient phenotype.