7th Apr 2015 05:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stock prices are set to open higher Tuesday as Europe returns from the long Easter break and gets the first chance to react to Friday's lower-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls number.
Employment in the US rose by much less than expected in March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday. The report said non-farm payroll employment rose by 126,000 jobs in March following a downwardly revised increase of 264,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 245,000 jobs compared to the addition of 295,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the US unemployment rate held at a six-year low of 5.5% in March, unchanged from February and in line with economist estimates.
IG indicates the FTSE 100 to open 18.8 points higher at 6,852.3. The index closed up 0.4% at 6,833.46 Thursday.
On Monday, the DJIA and the S&P 500 both ended up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.6%.
In Asia Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei is trading up 1.2%, the Hang Seng is up 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite is up 2.0%.
The only scheduled UK corporate release is a trading statement from airline Flybe Group.
In the economic calendar, there are Markit Services and Composite Purchasing Managers' Index readings from Germany at 0830 BST, France at 0850 BST, and the eurozone at 0900 BST. UK Markit services PMI is at 0930 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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