FTSE flat as caution prevails ahead of US jobs data

* FTSE flat

* U.S. non farm payrolls due at 1230 GMT

* Autonomy rises as it completes Iron Mountain deal

By David Brett

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was flat on Friday, as investors awaited non-farm payrolls data from the United States which follows a series of gloomy data on the world economy,

A Reuters poll showed analysts expect nonfarm payrolls to show a rise of 150,000 in May, less than the 180,000 forecast before a report on Wednesday showed a sharp slowdown in private job growth last month. The unemployment rate was seen at 8.9 percent. [ID:nN01187478]

Mislav Matejka, European equity strategist at JP Morgan, urged investors to remain calm and ride the wave of disappointing economic data.

He said he expected the FTSE 100 to remain rangebound around 6,000 through June as economic indicators bottom out, before starting a fresh up-leg in July.

"Into the second half of the year, our view is the FTSE should go to 6,600, as global economic activity picks up."

The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> has fallen around 140 points since Tuesday as a raft of economic data from Europe, the United States and China gave rise to doubts over the strength of the global economic recovery. The index was down 0.73 points at 5,847.19, by 10.34 GMT.

Adding to the economic gloom, Britain's service sector grew at its slowest pace in three months in May, easing to 53.8 last month from 54.3 in April, and below the 54.1 consensus forecast. [ID:nSLA2HE7UV]

GROWTH WORRIES

Growth concerns were reflected in the big fallers in London's blue chip index with demand worries hitting miners <.FTNMX1770> and integrated oils <.FTNMX0530>.

"Sector-wise, we have seen continued weakness in the mining sector, despite the higher copper prices. This insinuates a story of risk aversion before the jobs data as we would normally see the miners track gains in metal prices, particularly after a sharp slump," a London-based trader said.

Mobile telecom group Vodafone lent its considerable weight to support of the index, rising 1.4 percent.

Europe's telecom sector index <.SXKP> hit oversold territory in the previous session but rose on Friday after tumbling to a nine-month low, with investors picking up bargains in the battered sector.

Light volumes - the FTSE had traded just 24.5 percent of its average 90-day volume nearing midday - were blamed for some of the more volatile moves on the market.

British software group Autonomy claimed the top spot on the FTSE 100, rising 2.7 percent as it completed the earnings enhancing acquisition of Iron Mountain digital assets, a deal announced in mid-May.

Johnson Matthey Plc also bucked the flat trend climbing 1.3 percent.

The world's largest supplier of catalytic converters, which drew a subdued response to results on Thursday, gained as Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan raised their target prices after the firm posted a rise in annual profit.

And insurance buyout vehicle Resolution added 1.4 percent as Investec repeated its "buy" rating on the firm ahead of an investor update due on June 7.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)