London pre-open: Weak start expected ahead of US jobs report

The top flight index is expected to drop sharply at the start of trading, with losses of over 1% ahead of today's US non-farm payrolls.

Economists expect the American economy to have generated 218,000 jobs in August. However, on Thursday Deutsche Bank's Joe Lavorgna highlighted how the month of August is a seasonally weak one for payrolls. Indeed, the data has missed the mark in 21 out of the last 27 years - coming in by an average of 55,000 less than expected on the last four occassions.

The latest monthly employment report will be the last before the US Federal next meets to decide on interest rates, with analysts increasingly wary of the posisbility that the first rate hike will be pushed back towards later in the year.

Chinese stock markets remained closed for trading on Friday.

On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund warned G-20 central banks and finance ministers to mind the risk of rising real interest rates as inflation falls back.

Both the ECB and the Riskbank appeat to have taken note of the Washington-based lender's recommendations.

Sportingbet owner GVC has beaten rival 888 Holdings in the £1bn bidding war for online gambling group Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. The board decided to switch its recommendation to GVC, which has made an offer that values Bwin at about £1.1bn or 130p-a-share based on Thursday’s closing share price.

AstraZeneca has won an extension to US regulatory approval for its star blood thinning drug Brilinta to allow it to be given to patients for more than one year after a first heart attack. The new 60mg tablet, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this use, is expected to be available in pharmacies by the end of September 2015.

Poluys gold chief Pavel Grachev believes it is in the company's interest to remain publicly traded, opting not to comment on a possible buyout offer by the firm's largest stakeholder, according to reports.