London pre-open; Stocks seen up as investors eye payrolls

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a firmer open on Friday following a positive session on Wall Street, as investors eyed the latest US non-farm payrolls report. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 20 points higher.

The non-farm payrolls report for April is due at 1330 BST, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "The jobs data will be more important this time than in the past due to increased uncertainty regarding the future of the Fed policy. The US economy is expected to have added around 240K new nonfarm jobs in April, the average pay is expected to have grown slightly slower on a yearly basis, and the unemployment is seen steady at 3.8%.

"A hotter-than-expected data, especially on the wages front - should easily fuel the hawkish Fed expectations and weigh on equity and bond prices before the closing bell. A softer-than-expected set of data, on the other hand, should give some relief to the Fed doves before the week comes to an end."

On home shores, industry data showed that retail footfall fell sharply in April, hit by poor weather and the early timing of Easter.

According to the latest BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor, total UK footfall fell 7.2% in April year-on-year, further compounding March's 1.3% decline.

Within that, high street footfall fell by 6.9% while footfall in retail parks was down 6.2%. In shopping centres, which had seen a marginal 0.3% uptick in March, footfall slid 7.2%.

The British Retail Consortium attributed much of the decline to the early timing of Easter. This year Easter was at the end of March, whereas last year it was over a week later in April.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "While UK footfall was impacted by poor weather last month, this was artificially exacerbated by the comparison with 2023, when Easter was in April.

"All locations saw declines on the previous months, and nearly all major cities performed similarly poor."

Andy Sumpter, EMEA retail consultant for Sensormatic Solutions, said: "After an early Easter fuelled improved footfall performance in March, there is little doubt lacklustre levels of store visits in April will have come for a blow for many retailers.

"While a drop in traffic may have been expected, due to Easter falling early and the May bank holiday falling late, this will have been of little consolation. An exceptionally wet April also seems to have dampened many shoppers' appetite for spending.

"However, with financial pressures starting to ease and indications of growing consumer confidence, we will have to look to May to see if that filters through to improved in-store shopping."

In corporate news, hotels giant InterContinental Hotels Group reported a substantial easing in revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in the first quarter as weakness in the Americas and a big slowdown in China limited progress.

Global RevPAR was up just 2.6% year-on-year in the three months to 31 March, down from 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023. RevPAR growth in the Americas turned negative, falling to -0.3% from 1.5% in the preceding period, while Greater China growth came in at 2.5%, down from 72% in the fourth quarter. This reflected a soft comparative from the previous year when travel restrictions were still in place.

EMEAA growth however picked up to 8.9% from 7.0%.

Online rail ticket selling platform Trainline reported better-than-expected revenue along with a sharp jump in annual sales and profits, driven by competition for passengers in Spain and Italy along with a greater take-up of digital tickets in the UK.

Revenue was up 21% to £397m for the 12 months to February 29, while ticket sales rose 22% to £5.3bn and adjusted core profit hit £122m, an increase of 42%.

Mondi reported increased sales volumes across paper grades in its first, supported by solid downstream converting operations, despite lower average selling prices.

The FTSE 100 packaging firm said underlying EBITDA stood at €214m, including a one-off loss of €32m due to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound. It said corrugated packaging saw higher containerboard sales, while flexible packaging experienced growth in sales volume offset by lower prices.