FTSE 100 Live: London stocks open higher as soft US jobs report eases Fed fears

London’s FTSE 100 opened higher after a softer-than-expected U.S. jobs report reduced expectations of aggressive interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. In early trade, the index rose about 40 points to 10,692.58, building on strong gains from the previous session. Precious metals producer Fresnillo PLC led with a 2.6% gain as gold climbed 1.3% to $4,174.23 per ounce and silver jumped 2.4% to $62.47. Howden Joinery added 1.9% and Computacenter gained 1.7%, while Imperial Brands fell 0.6% and retailers Burberry and Next were down 0.5%. Overseas, Asian markets rebounded; South Korea’s Kospi jumped 4.6% with an 8.2% surge in Samsung after reports of Anthropic considering the firm for a custom AI chip. In the U.S., the Dow rose 1% to a record close, while the Nasdaq fell 0.8%.