UK stocks were treating water in the morning as the FTSE 100 stood unchanged from the opening level in early afternoon.
Investors were cautious ahead of today’s key non-farm payrolls report, which will be released in the US later today.
Shares in the UK and US rallied yesterday on positive US economic data, which included larger than expected increases in homer and retail sales.
Retail sales in the US climbed 6% in November, while pending home sales jumped 10.4% in October compared to the previous month.
US jobless claims data was mixed, showing that initial claims rose 26,000 to 436,000 last week, however, the less volatile four week moving average decreased by 5,750 to 431,000, the lowest level since August 2008.
Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) emerged atop the leaderboard with a 3.2% gain.
Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT) followed, tacking on 2.2%.
Retailer Kingfisher (LON:KGF) and copper miner Kazkahmys (LON:KAZ) tacked on 1.5%.
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) climbed 1.3%.
Hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.2% loss.
Banks Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) and Barclays (LON:BARC) and hospitality company Whitbread (LON:WTB) were down 2%.
Software developer Sage Group (LON:SGE) and security services company G4S (LON:GFS) declined 1.5%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index are currently projected to rise marginally when trading opens on Wall Street today.
Asian stocks weren’t very active today. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed flat, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.55%, South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.35% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 tacked on 0.1%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.4%.