Markets: City welcomes fall in US unemployment

NEWS that American employers created an additional 114,000 jobs in September gave the London market a boost tonight.

With the unemployment rate across the pond close to a four-year low, the prospects for a market-positive Obama victory in November’s presidential election shortened, further lifting traders’ moods.

Angus Campbell at Capital Spreads said: “The significant thing about the fall from 8.1 per cent to 7.8 per cent in the rate of unemployment is that not only was a rise expected, but that it could be enough to keep Obama in office.”

The FTSE 100 index cheered 43.2 points or 0.7 per cent to 5,871, with resource stocks such as miners leading the charge. The biggest Footsie risers were Eurasian Natural Resources up 18.6p at 333.3p, Kazakhmys ahead 31.5p at 738p, and Evraz up 9p at 254.1p.

But outside the top flight, Scotland-focused coal miner ATH Resources was heading in the other direction after it complained of low sale prices and high running costs. Its shares shed 18 per cent to close at 2.9p.

Shares in Pinnacle Technology Group were higher after it said it was testing a new wireless broadband system that could allow speeds of 100Mb per second. The Stirlingshire firm, which recently changed its name from Pinnacle Telecom to reflect its broader reach, said the wi-fi system should work up to five miles away from a fibre-connected base station. Its shares added 4.3 per cent to 0.37p.

And Blur, the business technology firm set up by Philip Letts, whose family owned the eponymous diary publisher in Dalkeith for two centuries, enjoyed a solid debut on the Alternative Investment Market. Its shares ended at 84.75p, up 2.75p from the flotation price.

NEW YORK: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index broke a four-day string of gains as the unexpected drop in the US unemployment rate was overshadowed by concerns about the coming earnings season.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 34.79 points, or 0.26 per cent, to end at 13,610.15 but the S&P 500 dipped just 0.47 of a point, or 0.03 per cent, to finish at 1,460.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 13.27 points, or 0.42 per cent, to close at 3,136.19.