FTSE blog: Financials and miners soar on US jobs surprise
Share
Financial stocks and miners led the FTSE 100 higher during Friday’s session after data from the US showed a surprise surge in hiring.
The blue-chip index ended the day 124.98 points ahead to 5,787.28 after a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed that 163,000 workers were added to US non-farm payrolls during July.
This is up from the 64,000 jobs created in June and an improvement in the 100,000 expected by analysts. The report was enough to overcome investors’ disappointment at the lack of action shown by the European Central Bank yesterday.
Insurer Aviva was the biggest riser on Friday, advancing 7.36 per cent to 306.2p. The company headed a list of gainers in the financial and resources sectors, as investors returned to riskier assets.
Copper mining company Kazakhmys gained 6.55 per cent to 723.5p while financial services group Prudential rose 6.10 per cent to 791.5p.
Diversified mining group Vedanta Resources took 5.88 per cent to sit at 954.5p and engineering contractor Petrofac advanced 5.66 per cent to 1,531p.
British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines was the biggest faller of the day, dropping 5.21 per cent to 151p after reporting an interim loss and warning of job losses.
Alcoholic beverage company Diageo was the only other stock ending Friday behind.
To receive more relevant articles like this one, why not sign up to our briefings and breaking alerts by clicking here and Follow @fundweb
