After a quiet start, London's leading shares have kicked on a bit, ahead of the release this afternoon of US jobs data for December.

The market is expecting US non-farm payrolls to have increased by 150,000 in December, an improvement on November's 120,000 increase. The unemployment rate is tipped to rise to 8.7% from November's 8.6%.

Back on this side of the pond, no-frills airline easyJet was thankful for a mild December, in contrast to the snow-bound final month of 2010. The airline saw a sharp year-on-year increase in the number of passengers carried in December, up 13.1% to 4.14m from 3.66m in December 2010. The load factor eased, however, to 85.6% from 85.8% the year before.

Underlying passenger numbers (adjusting for disruption) were 4% higher in December 2011, while underlying load factor was one percentage point up on last year.

Longmartin Properties, a 50/50 joint venture between real estate investment trust Shaftesbury and the Mercers' Company, has tapped up Aviva Commercial Finance for a 15-year loan. The facility is for £120m and is at a fixed rate of interest of 4.43%. Longmartin will remit the proceeds of the loan after expenses to its shareholders through the repayment of loans and share capital.

David McKinney, Chief Operating Officer of Pace, is to leave the set-top box maker after his position disappeared in a management restructuring. Key operations and procurement functions that previously reported to McKinney will now report directly to Mike Pulli, the new Chief Executive Officer who used to be President of Pace Americas. Pulli's old position is to be filled by Tim O'Loughlin, who has been with Pace for more than a decade, many of them as part of Pace's Americas leadership team.

Fears that a fourth quarter trading update by recruitment firm Robert Walters might include a profit warning proved unfounded, though the group concedes that conditions in the UK market remain difficult.

"Group net fee income for the year ended 31 December 2011 was up 18% [15% on a constant currency basis] to £183.6m (2010: £155.4m) and we expect a satisfactory outcome for 2011 as a whole," revealed Robert Walters, Chief Executive Officer of the company that bears his name.

Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone is on the up after a bullish note from Goldman Sachs, while pubs group Mitchells & Butlers raises a glass to Morgan Stanley, which has recommended buying the shares. Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is brought to earth, however, by Morgan Stanley downgrading the stock to "equal weight" from "overweight". The same broker is keener on another player in the broadcasting sector, ITV, which it has upgraded to "overweight" from "equal weight".

In other broker commentary, hedge fund manager Man Group has had its target price cut to 175p from 215p by Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank also had a pop at fund manager Ashmore, downgrading it to "neutral" from "Out-perform".

FTSE 100 - Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,238.00p +2.91%
ITV (ITV) 71.45p +2.88%
Amec (AMEC) 958.00p +2.62%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 712.00p +2.45%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 27.00p +2.45%
WPP (WPP) 684.00p +2.24%
Barclays (BARC) 187.60p +2.15%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 181.05p +2.12%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,523.00p +2.01%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,005.00p +1.98%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Man Group (EMG) 114.90p -6.59%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 322.20p -2.63%
ICAP (IAP) 320.80p -2.52%
Evraz (EVR) 378.50p -2.07%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 310.10p -1.87%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 707.50p -1.87%
Admiral Group (ADM) 853.50p -1.44%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,141.00p -1.34%
Next (NXT) 2,583.00p -1.19%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 251.60p -1.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 240.50p +4.66%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 81.60p +3.95%
Supergroup (SGP) 549.50p +3.68%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 46.60p +3.37%
Booker Group (BOK) 74.70p +3.03%
Logica (LOG) 67.95p +3.03%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 196.70p -5.16%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 165.00p -4.07%
Savills (SVS) 335.60p -2.47%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 189.10p -2.22%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 100.30p -2.05%
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 71.50p -2.05%


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Related share prices
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) share price
Man Group (EMG) share price
Pace (PIC) share price
Shaftesbury (SHB) share price
easyJet (EZJ) share price
Robert Walters (RWA) share price
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) share price
ITV (ITV) share price
Ashmore Group (ASHM) share price