FTSE Down 0.3 Percent; Cautious Ahead Of Key Data

By 0858 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 13.70 points firmer at 4,491.67 after shedding 2.14 points in the previous session.

Britain's top share index was 0.3 percent lower in early trade on Friday with weak miners weighing and investors cautious ahead of some key economic data due later, notably the U.S. December jobs report.

By 0858 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 13.70 points firmer at 4,491.67 after shedding 2.14 points in the previous session in the wake of a 50 basis point cut in UK interest rates.

Weakness in heavyweight mining issues dented blue chip sentiment once again although metal prices showed some recovery on Friday, reflecting uncertainties over the global economic picture.

Xstrata, Vedanta Resources, Anglo American, Kazakhmys and Eurasian Natural Resources lost between 0.8 and 5.3 percent.

But BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rallied, up 0.7 and 1.5 percent respectively, helped by slightly firmer copper prices

"It's going to be a lot quieter in front of the U.S. payrolls which is due at 1330 (GMT) our time," said Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at Williams De Broe.

The data is expected to show that the U.S. economy shed about 550,000 positions, the biggest fall in jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace.

"After the data we've had in the first four days of the week people are a bit nervous. Generally profit taking was seen across all global markets," said Wood-Smith.

Banks, however, rallied again after a big sell-off at the start of the week following news that the UK government's ban on the short-selling of financial stocks will end on Jan 16.

Barclays, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB gained between 2.2 and 5.1 percent.

Media companies were a focus as Goldman Sachs shuffled its ratings across Europe in a sector review.

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB was the top FTSE 100 faller, down 5 percent as Goldman cut its rating to "sell" from "neutral".

On the second line, peer ITV lost 3.8 percent with Goldman also cutting its rating to "sell", while newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General shed 4.7 percent with the broker reducing its target price.

But mid cap directories firm Yell Group jumped 12 percent higher and marketing services firm Aegis Group added 7 percent, as Goldman raised its rating for both to "buy" as part of the media review.

In the absence of any significant corporate news, other broker changes also provided interest.

Capita Group lost 4 percent as UBS cut the outsourcer's rating to "sell" from "buy", while the broker also made the same change on support services group Serco, down 2.6 percent.

U.S. blue chips finished weaker but off their worst levels on Thursday with sentiment boosted slightly by news that U.S. bank Citigroup agreed to support legislation aimed at stemming home loan foreclosures.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday the U.S. recession looks to be longer and more severe than originally thought, but there are signs that the economy will improve in the second half of 2009.

"We are seeing businesses retrenching and unemployment rising," Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren told the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association's Annual Meeting.

Ahead of the payrolls data, investors will keep an eye on UK manufacturing and industrial output data for November and producer price data for December at 0930 GMT.