European Midday Update: Markets Higher but Cautious Ahead of Jobs Data

LONDON -- It appears that investors are reluctant to chase the game Friday morning despite the overnight strength of Wall Street. "They're just not bidding for stock," commented a senior market maker. "It looks like we're going to see a slow session, at least until we see the U.S. non-farm payrolls report."

By midmorning, the FTSE 100 stood 40.8 points higher at 6511.3, with Vodafone AirTouch (VOD Quote) the driving force. Vodafone almost single handedly moved the Footsie into positive territory with a gain of 9p to 324 ($4.86). British Telecom (BTY Quote) was also in demand, and rose 30p to 10.07, but Colt Telecom (COLTY Quote) slipped 65p to 24.75.

Meanwhile, the Techmark drew a semblance of strength from the Nasdaq's good overnight performance and was up 24.9 points to 3385.9. BATM Advanced Communications moved up 185p to 39.62, Bookham Technology (BKHM Quote) rose 175p to 34.50 and Fibernet was up 90p more at 16.62.

Media shares were mixed. Reuters (RTRSY Quote) was up 36p to 10.61 following a Credit Suisse First Boston buy note, but Pearson fell 27p to 21.03 and BSkyB (BSY Quote) shed 44p to 12.41.

Banks were drab after a recent strong run. There's also the worry that this afternoon's U.S. numbers could make an interest rate rise more likely. Barclays (BCS Quote) was 45p off at 16.92 and Royal Bank of Scotland was down 28p at 10.88.

This morning's Footsie casualty is ferry operator P&O, which sank 82p to 643p following first-quarter results from its P&O Cruise division. The operating profit figure, up 4% to $60 million, was deemed satisfactory, but the market was unhappy with the accompanying statement that mentioned higher fuel prices, a more competitive U.S. market and the comment that net revenue yields for 2000 are likely to be lower than for those of 1999. Preparations are underway to separate the business from P&O in October 2000.

Europe's other major stock markets were moderately higher, with the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt up 21.0 to 7293.8 and the CAC 40 in Paris 11.5 higher to 6611.2. The Neuer Markt's tech-heavy Nemax 50 index was up 157.9 at 6307.5.

Software maker SAP (SAP Quote) led the tech gains in Frankfurt, climbing 22.50 euros to 607.50 ($565.82) after announcing it would restructure some of its operations. Siemens (SMWAY Quote) rose 0.80 euros to 164.80 and Epcos (EPC Quote) was 1.95 euros higher at 136.95.

Financial issues Deutsche Bank (DTBKY Quote) and Dresdner Bank (DRSDY Quote) rose 0.40 euros to 84.90 and 1.03 euros to 45.23, respectively.

Carmakers, on the other hand, were lower midsession. DaimlerChrysler (DCX Quote) fell 0.83 euros to 57.44 and Volkswagen (VLKAY Quote) was down 0.24 euros at 43.60.

Deutsche Telekom (DT Quote) rose 0.55 euros to 69.05, after the Financial Times Deutschland reported the company would bid for third-generation wireless UMTS licenses in France, Austria, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.

Other European telecoms were mixed, with Telefonica (TEF Quote) up 0.30 euros at 22.50 and France Telecom (FTE Quote) 1.00 euros lower at 167.00.