FTSE opens lower on US employment data

The FTSE 100 has opened in the red, falling 0.23% or 13.67 points to 5,970.66 this morning as December's US non-farm payroll number, announced on Friday, came in well below forecasts.

A total of 103,000 new jobs were created in the US last month, much lower than the 150,000 analysts predicted. Early winners on London's leading index included Morrisons, up 1.67% or 4.5 points to 274.5p as its full-year forecasts remained unchanged and like for like sales grew over Christmas and New Year, up 1% on the previous year. Other strong performers included Tesco and Vodafone. Mining groups began the week lower with Xstrata down 1.9% or 28.5 points to 1472p and Kazakhmys diving 1.76% or 28 points to 1563p Meanwhile, in the US the Dow Jones ended last week in negative t...