Britain's top equity index pared gains on Friday after U.S. jobs figures missed expectations, but it outpaced mainland Europe as commodity-linked stocks rose, according to Reuters. Traders said recent strong U.S. data had many investors believing the jobs report would beat the Reuters consensus estimate of 231,000. The figure came in at 214,000, wage growth remained subdued, and Wall Street opened slightly lower. However, the first major jobs report since the Federal Reserve ended its bond-buying stimulus programme showed the unemployment rate falling to a fresh six year low, and a Fed official said the central bank should be "extraordinarily patient" in raising rates. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.1 percent at 6,560.02 points at 1459 GMT. Precious metal miners, among the biggest fallers in recent weeks, rose, with Fresnillo up 4.4 percent, the top FTSE riser, as gold recovered from 4-1/2-year lows. Oil firms were also given a boost even as the price of Brent failed to rebound from $83 dollars, near a four-year low. Royal Dutch Shell, the weightiest stock on the index, rose 2.3 percent and contributed over 10 points to the index's advance after Credit Suisse raised its target price. Analysts at the bank argued that lower prices could benefit firms like Shell in the medium term. The index's heavy weighting in commodity stocks saw it outperform European peers, with France's CAC down 1.5 percent and Germany's DAX down 1.4 percent. Miners rose 2.4 percent but remain down over 16 percent since the end of July, while oil & gas firms , down 11 percent over the same period, rose 2 percent. The FTSE hit a peak of 6,904.86 points at the start of September, its highest since early 2000. It then slumped to 15-month lows in October as weak European economic data knocked back stock markets, but has since clawed back ground. -- SPA 18:46 LOCAL TIME 15:46 GMT تغريد
