1000: The footsie is now down four points, and continues to be led by M&S, while defensive stocks, such as the likes of Centrica and Diageo, put in a decent performance. Tate & Lyle is doing well after it agreed to a 347m-pound partial pensioner buy-in which covers nearly half of its total pensioner liabilities. On the second tier index, Berkeley is delivering decent gains after revealing that both revenue and profit surged in the first half. Panmure Gordon hiked its target price on the stock from 1,390p to 1,650p on the back of the results, but retained its ‘hold’ recommendation, saying that the valuation ‘looks up with events’.

0838: The FTSE 100 is down three points at 5,898 as it continues to tiptoe around the 5,900 level. M&S is pulling back after a strong rise on Thursday. Market rumours yesterday linked retail tycoon Sir Philip Green to a possible bid for the High Street giant, eight years after his nine-billion-pound offer for the group failed. The speculation followed Green’s sale of a 25 per cent stake in Top Shop last week. However an Arcadia spokesperson denied such speculation yesterday when questioned by Sharecast.

0815: The FTSE 100 opened broadly flat this morning, up just seven points at 5,908, with investors showing caution ahead of the US employment report. Meanwhile, stocks were also dampened by the Bundesbank cutting German growth forecasts for next year from 1.6 per cent (estimated in June) to just 0.4 per cent.