7th Mar 2025 16:52
(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 ended slightly lower on Friday, despite an afternoon fightback after softer-than-expected US jobs data boosted rate cut hopes.
The FTSE 100 index closed down just 2.96 points at 8,679.88. The FTSE 250 fell 29.95 points, 0.2%, at 20,129.12, and the AIM All-Share rose 1.77 points, 0.3%, at 694.23.
For the week, the FTSE 100 lost 1.5%, the FTSE 250 declined 1.0% and the AIM All-Share fell 1.4%.
The Cboe UK 100 fell 0.4% at 867.21, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.2% at 17,518.18, and the Cboe Small Companies rose 0.4% at 15,618.87.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt plunged 1.8%.
Tariff worries clouded over European equities. China's foreign minister on Friday vowed Beijing would "firmly counter" US pressure, after Donald Trump heaped tariffs on Chinese goods and torched off a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Trump imposed more blanket tariffs on Chinese imports this week, following a similar move last month – levies expected to hit hundreds of billions of dollars in total trade.
The mercurial magnate has overturned the international order since returning to office in January, from pushing Ukraine to seek a peace deal with Russia to floating a widely condemned plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
At a press conference on the sidelines of a key political meeting, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi framed Beijing as a bulwark of stability in an unstable world.
He warned the "law of the jungle" could take hold if nations were to pursue purely their own interests.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.7% lower. The S&P 500 shed 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite gave back 1.1%.
The US economy added slightly fewer jobs in February than forecast, while the unemployment rose unexpectedly, figures on Friday showed.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in February, picking up from a downwardly revised increase of 125,000 in January.
The figure for February was below FXStreet-consensus for nonfarm payrolls to print at 160,000.
January's figure was revised downwards from 143,000 while December's total was revised upwards to 323,000 from 307,000.
With these revisions, employment in December and January combined is 2,000 lower than previously reported.
Wealth Club analyst Nicholas Hyett commented: "Today's numbers are a touch lower than the market expected, but that's not exactly a shock. The ADP survey already showed a slowdown in US private sector job creation, while job losses in the public sector have been well publicised. In the long run tariffs have the potential to boost job creation as manufacturing is brought back onshore – or at least that's the idea. However, short term there are more headwinds than tailwinds to US employment.
"[Department of Government Efficiency] is reportedly slashing government jobs left and right, and Musk seems to be just getting warmed up. Rising input costs from tariffs create an incentive for companies to find cost savings elsewhere, including from cutting staff. All that uncertainty, not helped by the chopping and changing on tariffs, has the potential to dent consumer and corporate confidence leading to lower spending and capital expenditure in the short term."
The pound was quoted higher at USD1.2920 late on Friday in London, compared to USD1.2890 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.0851, higher against USD1.0827. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY147.34 compared to JPY148.10.
XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks commented: "The dollar may continue to struggle after this jobs report as it supports further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. The Fed Fund Futures market is expecting 3 rate cuts from the Fed this year. There is now a 33% probability of three cuts this year, up from 12% a month ago, according to CME's Fedwatch tool. This shift in US rate cut expectations is fueling dollar weakness, in particular."
The next Fed decision is on March 19.
Rate sensitive stocks in London got a boost from Fed cut hopes. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey rose 3.5%, while property firm Land Securities added 2.0%.
Elsewhere in London, Just Group lost 9.6%, despite slightly better than expected annual operating profit and a 20% bump to its dividend.
The London-based provider of retirement income products said IFRS pretax profit fell 34% to GBP113 million in 2024 from GBP172 million in 2023. Adjusted pretax profit fell 7.3% to GBP482 million from GBP520 million, as strong underlying profit was offset by lower non-operating items.
Underlying operating profit, however, rose 34% to GBP504 million in 2024 from GBP377 million, ahead of GBP499 million consensus, driven by new business sales growth, higher recurring in-force profit, and increased scale, Just Group said.
Just Group declared a final dividend of 1.80p per share, up 20% from 1.50p a year ago, taking the total payout to 2.50p per share, up 20% from 2.08p.
"It was another year of exceptional performance, capital strength, positive outlook and financial targets being met two years ahead of time. Although no new targets have been announced we forecast the strong double-digit performance to continue. The shares have bounced 90%, in the last 12 months but in our view have much further to go as sentiment improves reflecting the earnings outlook," analysts at Panmure Liberum commented.
Elsewhere in London, Serica Energy confirmed it was in talks for a possible merger with EnQuest, with a reverse takeover envisaged.
Serica is a North Sea-focused oil and gas producer while EnQuest is an oil and gas company with operations in the UK and Malaysia.
Serica said an offer by EnQuest for Serica is planned via a reverse takeover.
EnQuest said: "Discussions remain ongoing between the boards of EnQuest and Serica, and a further announcement will be made in due course. There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made."
Serica shares rose 8.4%. EnQuest surged 14%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD70.47 a barrel at in London on Friday, from USD68.84 late Thursday.
Gold was down at USD2,914.44 an ounce against USD2,916.75.
Monday's economic calendar has a German industrial output reading at 0700 GMT. Over the weekend, Chinese inflation data is reported.
Monday's UK corporate calendar has annual results from shipping and offshore services provider Clarkson.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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Related Shares:
Serica EnergyEnquestJust GroupTaylor WimpeyLand Securities