3rd Jul 2026 09:24
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened slightly higher on Friday, in the wake of Thursday's US jobs report, with financial markets shut in the US for the Independence Day holiday.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 3.33 points at 10,656.32. The FTSE 250 was up 82.66 points, 0.4%, at 23,500.24, and the AIM all-share was flat at 777.43.
The Cboe UK 100 was slightly lower at 1,057.41, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 20,238.46, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.1% at 18,347.05.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.4% higher.
Sterling was at USD1.3371 on Friday morning, slightly up from USD1.3367 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling fell to EUR1.1669 from EUR1.1681.
The euro was a little higher at USD1.1453 from USD1.1449. Against the yen, the dollar was little changed at JPY160.84 from JPY160.87.
Investors are continuing to weigh Thursday's US jobs report, which was weaker than expected.
US nonfarm payrolls increased by just 57,000 in June, well below the FXStreet-cited consensus of 110,000, while the prior two months were revised down by a combined 74,000 jobs.
Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said: "In equities, most companies in the S&P 500 reacted positively to the softer jobs data, which led to a notable decline in US yields. But the index closed the session flat as the selloff in technology—especially semiconductors—counterweighed gains elsewhere."
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%, while the S&P 500 ended flat and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%.
Financial markets in the US are closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
Ozkardeskaya added: "Futures are positive this morning, as softer Fed expectations are good news for everyone. The softer the Fed, the softer the dollar, the weaker the inflationary pressures stemming from dollar strength—and that is good news at a time when energy prices are falling."
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 1.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 1.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney advanced 1.4%.
Brent crude was trading higher at USD71.85 a barrel on Friday morning from USD70.76 on Thursday.
Back in London, miners were higher as the price of metals increased. Fresnillo was up 1.6%, while Glencore gained 1.1%, Anglo American rose 0.9% and Antofagasta advanced 0.6%.
Gold was higher at USD4,182.88 an ounce early on Friday from USD4,124.43 late Thursday.
Entain was down 1.7% after JPMorgan cut its price target to 1,025 pence from 1,040 pence. The bank maintained an 'overweight' rating on the stock.
On the FTSE 250 index, Close Brothers led the way and climbed 5.0%. Shore Capital raised its rating on the merchant bank to 'buy' from 'hold', with a price target of 495p, up from 490p.
"Motor finance uncertainty continues to weigh on sentiment, but recent legal and regulatory developments appear largely procedural, while management has made no further adjustment to its GBP320 million provision since May," Shore Capital said.
On the AIM market, shares in Craneware sank 20%.
The Edinburgh-based healthcare financial software provider aid it expects to report revenue and adjusted earnings below market expectations for the financial year that ended Tuesday, citing the deferral of some "significant" enterprise contracts.
It guided for revenue between USD205 million and USD208 million, flat on USD205.7 million in financial 2025.
Craneware said it expects to post adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between USD65 million and USD67 million, similar to USD65.3 million a year prior.
"This change results from the timing of eligible 340B activity and the deferral of a small number of significant enterprise contracts, which are now expected to contribute during FY27," Craneware said.
Trading in the last weeks of the financial year was "materially impacted" by slower than expected conversion of 340B opportunities into revenue, Craneware said. The pace at which the opportunities translated into eligible drug purchases "slowed significantly" as pharmaceutical firms expanded and operationalised restrictions on the supply of some 340B-price medicines.
The 340B drug pricing scheme restricts the price that pharmaceutical firms can charge for certain drugs in exchange for having them eligible to be covered by the US federal government's Medicaid and Medicare programmes.
Among small caps, RC365 shares jumped 25%.
The payment solutions and fintech company said it has entered a strategic partnership with Hong Kong-based Blacksilver Trust.
RC365 said it will provide "an integrated suite of financial technology solutions" to Blacksilver.
"The RC3.0 platform entered its soft launch phase approximately two months ago and this agreement represents a further commercial deployment of the Group's proprietary technology," RC365 said.
The agreement has an initial five-year term.
Still to come on Friday's economic calendar is the UK composite purchasing managers' index reading.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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