FTSE seen opening down

The blue chip index closed 91.50 points higher on Wednesday at 4,340.71 on the first day of the new quarter lifted by strength in commodity issues.

However, with crude prices falling back below $70 a barrel, heavyweight oils are expected to retreat early on Thursday pulling the market lower.

No domestic data is due for release on Thursday, so all the attention will be on the U.S. non-farm payrolls, bought forward a day from Friday this month due to the Independence Day holiday, which are expected to come in at -355,000 in June, after May's less then expected -345,000 decline.

U.S. unemployment is expected to rise to 9.6 percent last month, up from 9.4 percent in June.

Investors will also have the latest weekly U.S. jobless claims, May factory goods, and revised durable orders numbers to digest as well on Thursday.

And news out of the latest monthly European Central Bank Committee meeting will also be eyed, though no change is expected to monetary policy with euro zone interest rates already at a record low.

UK stocks to watch on Thursday are:

RIO TINTO

Rio Tinto's $15.2 billion (9.2 billion pound) rights offer, the fifth-biggest on record, generated strong demand from UK investors, putting the world's top iron ore miner back into growth mode after a debt-funded purchase of Alcan had brought it to its knees.