By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch Balfour Beatty rebuffs bid for
investment arm
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K. pound fell but stocks extended
gains Friday following a stronger-than-expected jobs report from
the U.S., a major trading partner for Europe.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 6,741.05. It had been up 0.8% just
before the U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 321,000
jobs in November, the biggest gain since early 2012. Hiring was
also revised up by a combined 44,000 in the prior two months.
The Stoxx Europe 600 stretched its advance to 1.5% after the
report, and U.S. stocks opened higher.
The U.S. dollar (GBPUSD) rose against its rivals after the
report, pushing the pound back to buying $1.5630 compared with
$1.5686 before the jobs data.
The addition of 200,000 or more jobs would have kept "the dollar
well bid as it will confirm the market expectations of a Fed rate
hike sometime in [the first quarter] of 2015," said Boris
Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy, at BK Asset
Management in a note earlier Friday.
The Bank of England, meanwhile, is likely to begin raising rates
in the later months of 2015 as growth in the key eurozone market
stagnates and domestic inflation levels lose steam. A survey
released Friday by the Bank of England showed the British public
have pushed down their expectations for an interest-rate hike over
the next 12 months, and foresee the rate of inflation at 2.5% over
the coming year, compared with expectations in August of a 2.8%
rate.
Stocks: In London trade, only the basic materials group was
moving lower, continuing a painful run of losses as companies
tackle issues ranging from oversupply, slowing demand and falling
prices. Miner Randgold Resources Ltd. fell 3.2% and Tullow Oil PLC
fell 2.4%. Iron-ore heavyweight BHP Billiton PLC fell 1.9% and
oil-services firm Petrofac Ltd. declined 1.4%, with those shares
poised for a weekly loss of 5.3%.
But Intertek Group PLC was one of the best performers as its
shares rose 3%. UBS raised the product-testing and certification
company to a buy rating from neutral, citing "attractive
risk/reward with M&A providing further upside optionality."
Shares of aerospace equipment maker Meggitt PLC rose 3.2%,
boosted by an upgrade to a buy rating at Investec.
On the FTSE 250 index , Balfour Beatty PLC shares jumped 5.4%
after the construction-services company turned down a 1 billion
pound ($1.57 billion) bid from John Laing Infrastructure Fund for
its public-private portfolio.
The FTSE 100 was looking at a weekly gain of 0.2%. The benchmark
on Thursday lost 0.6%, falling alongside the broader European stock
market after the European Central Bank decided to hold off on
expanding stimulus measures for the struggling eurozone.
But a Bloomberg report late Thursday raised fresh hopes about
European Central Bank stimulus plans, as it said the central bank
expects to consider a proposal for broad-based asset purchases in
January.
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