By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Retailers advance after January data
U.K. stocks slipped Friday while the pound dropped against the
U.S. dollar as investors digested an overall mixed U.S. monthly
jobs report.
The FTSE 100 was off 0.2% at 5,8888.15 after the release of the
closely watched U.S. jobs data, although the benchmark had briefly
held to a gain. Still, the index was looking at a 2.8% decline
since last Friday, which would break two previous weeks of
advances. It would also be the worst week in about a month.
After the jobs report, "it's been a bit of a mixed response
generally across markets but there is dollar strength. Equity
markets are not entirely certain how to take it [with] very choppy
moves," said Richard Perry, market analyst at Hantec Markets.
During afternoon trade, the U.S. Labor Department's January
report
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobs-growth-slows-to-151000-as-jobless-rate-hits-eight-year-low-2016-02-05)
showed nonfarm payrolls rose by a less-than-anticipated 151,000
jobs. But the unemployment rate dropped to an eight-year low of
4.9% and average hourly wages surged 0.5% to $25.39 an hour.
"The headline number obviously matters but the market is
certainly looking out for those hourly earnings picking up and
feeding into inflation," Perry said. "The market had probably
backed itself into thinking there was going to be a weak report and
the actual report has been a bit better than that and that's why
the dollar has strengthened."
The pound hit an intraday low of $1.4452, according to FactSet
data, after the data. Late Thursday, it bought $1.4590. Read more
in Currencies
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-could-hit-115-if-jobs-data-disappoints-analyst-2016-02-05).
Miners: Mining shares remained volatile Friday following a sharp
rise in the previous session. Thursday's rally was helped by a
slide in the U.S. dollar as weakness in the greenback tends to aid
dollar-denominated commodities and related shares. The U.S. dollar
index is still on track for a weekly loss.
A "helpful combination of USD weakness, short covering,
technical breakouts and brokers [were] suggesting a bottom for some
base metals," said Mike Van Dulken, head of research at Accendo
Markets, in a note.
Read: Why a January jobs slowdown may not be a bad sign
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-january-jobs-slowdown-may-not-be-a-bad-sign-2016-02-04)
After starting Friday in the red, platinum miner Anglo American
PLC (AAL.LN) drove higher by 8%, which adds to Thursday's 20% leap.
"[L]ook back over the last fortnight and the stock has tacked on
almost 40% -- a colossal gain for a blue chip, and one that for now
anyway looks set to retain its FTSE 100 place," said Tony Cross,
market analyst at Trustnet Direct.
Glencore PLC (GLEN.LN) (GLEN.LN) pared its gain 1.3% following
the jobs report, building on Thursday's 16% bounce. Standard &
Poor's, citing sector challenges, cut the commodities trader and
miner's debt rating on Thursday to BBB-, the lowest level of
investment grade.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) turned lower by
0.1% and shares of iron ore producer Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) (RIO)
(RIO) extended losses to 3.1%.
Oil swings: Shares in BG Group PLC (BG.LN) narrowed to a 0.1%
rise. The energy company beat expectations for full-year production
targets
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bg-group-profit-slips-22-beats-production-target-2016-02-05-3485186).
But underlying profit fell 22% in the fourth quarter, as oil prices
collapsed. BG is being acquired by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN)
(RDSB.LN). Shell shares were up 0.4%, off session highs, and those
in rival oil major BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) turned lower by 0.6%.
Oil prices moved lower after the jobs report as the dollar
gained ground. West Texas Intermediate oil fell 2% to $31.08 a
barrel while Brent crude lost grip of gains and fell 1.5% to $33.97
a barrel.
Retailers: "Retailers are finding cheer off the back of reports
showing January was a bumper month for U.K. high streets," or Main
Street stores, said Trustnet's Cross.
Comparable-store sales in the five weeks to Jan. 31 rose 1.4%
against the year-earlier period, said business advisory BDO in its
monthly High Street Sales Tracker report.
"Although this reads as a fairly flat performance, the month was
one of two halves with the first two weeks of the month showing
consumers coming out in force for bargain hunting," BDO said in its
report. Fashion retailers had a strong showing as sales rose
1.9%.
Among retail shares, department store operator Marks &
Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN) popped up 1.3% and apparel seller Next
PLC (NXT.LN) gained 0.4%. Home improvement specialist Kingfisher
PLC (KGF.LN) bulked up 2.3% and supermarket chain Tesco PLC
(TSCO.LN) bounced up 2.3%.
Investing Insights: A global markets survival guide
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for investing opportunities and risks in European and global
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The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 05, 2016 10:01 ET (15:01 GMT)
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