London midday: Miners and financials lift FTSE as Berkeley update hits builders

London equity indices were doing their darnedest to try and finish the week on a positive note, with the mining and financial heavyweights offsetting caution hitting the housebuilding and retail sectors.

By midday on Friday, the FTSE 100 was up by 12 points or almost 0.2% at 7,151.69, though the mid-caps of the FTSE 250 were in the red. Asian markets ended mixed earlier and so was the Wall Street session overnight.

Sterling was up 0.25% on the dollar at 1.3972, around highs not seen in almost a month, but little moved against the euro at 1.133.

While there was some tension in London over the fallout from the poisoning of a Russian defector and Brexit negotiations, the always eventful Trump White House continues to draw the market's attention.

The appointment of former Ronald Reagan adviser Larry Kudlow as the President Donald Trump's economic advisor was seen as a positive by the markets, due to his vocal pro-trade stance and support of a stronger dollar, but last night brought more machinations as reports emerged of further departures from Trump's team and the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“Global equities are mixed, with the FTSE, DAX and CAC all positive but Wall St futures suggesting an extension of yesterday's weakness," said analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets, noting that European financials were again outperforming thanks to M&A with the approach for London's NEX Group by US giant CME and hopes of a Fed rate hike next week.

With little macro data from the UK or US, the main economic news of note was the final eurozone inflation reading for February, which unexpectedly came in at a 14 month low of 1.1%.

"Clearly whatever the ECB is doing to get that CPI figure creeping higher isn’t working," said Connor Campbell at Spreadex, as the news helped send the DAX and CAC up but saw the euro pretty sanguine, rising 0.2% against the dollar and 0.1% against the pound.

In corporate news, NEX, the company formerly known as Icap, soared 30% after it confirmed overnight that it has received a preliminary approach from CME regarding a potential acquisition. "Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for NEX will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer, if made," it said.

Miners were on the rise, helped by copper prices coming off their lows, with Glencore leading the FTSE 100 risers followed by Antofagasta, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

Royal Dutch Shell was higher after agreeing overnight a deal to sell its shares in Shell entities in New Zealand to OMV for US$578m. Shell also agreed with OMV to sell its interest in and operatorship of the Great South Basin venture, which includes a drilling commitment currently estimated to be $50m.

National Grid was moderately higher after getting approval for new three-year rate plan and $2.5bn capex for its Niagara Mohawk utility

Housebuilder Berkeley Group was a notable faller after it reported a resilient level of house sales over the past four months and was confident enough about the "compelling" fundamentals of the London and South East housing market to maintain profit and dividend guidance, but gave a rather aggressive defence of why it cannot raise its build rate. The FTSE 100 housebuilder blamed "market constraints" on it being "unable" to increase production, which sent ripples of uncertainty though to peers including Taylor Wimpey, Barratt, Persimmon, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Bovis.

Tesco was lower, with analysts citing profit-taking after a rise the day before on the back of a JPMorgan upgrade, with City chat also about Citi being a big seller.

Facilities management company Mitie fell 7% after it said it expected full operating profits to be slightly below 2016 after modest growth in sales, as expected. The company said revenue growth should be in the range of 2%-2.5% at around £2.2bn and that it expects to make higher savings by 2020.

JD Wetherspoon fell after announcing like-for-like sales up 6.1%, pre-tax profits up 20.6% and a flat interim dividend. The pub group anticipates higher second half costs and slower like-for like sales growth, but stronger sales in the year so far means the full outlook is unchanged.

William Hill was up and Ladbrokes Coral down as it was reported in the Financial Times that the pair are being investigated by the FCA for creating a false market in their shares by making public findings of review about possible curbs to fixed odds betting terminals. The bookies were said to have promoted a doomsday scenario for betting shops if the government presses ahead with curbs on FOBT machines.

Old Mutual was lower as its break-up continued with an agreement to sell its Latin American businesses for an undisclosed sum. Proceeds from the sale will be retained for general corporate purposes by Old Mutual Emerging Markets, which is now focused on sub-Saharan Africa.

Cobham was down less than a penny after completing the divestment of AvComm and Wireless Test & Measurement businesses for $455m, while Dominos Pizza was flat after it said it was starting a discretionary £32m buyback, the balance of existing £50m programme.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,151.19 0.16%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,735.15 -0.47%
techMARK (TASX) 3,326.53 -0.18%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 385.45p 1.66%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 975.00p 1.56%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,646.00p 1.29%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,786.60p 1.12%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,205.50p 1.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,772.50p 0.95%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,451.00p 0.93%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,502.00p 0.93%
National Grid (NG.) 776.70p 0.87%
Informa (INF) 725.00p 0.75%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Evraz (EVR) 421.40p -3.90%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,773.00p -3.82%
Tesco (TSCO) 209.80p -1.96%
Kingfisher (KGF) 345.00p -1.51%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,893.15p -1.48%
Next (NXT) 4,759.00p -1.45%
Old Mutual (OML) 249.40p -1.42%
GKN (GKN) 424.50p -1.32%
Ferguson (FERG) 5,232.00p -1.28%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 529.80p -1.23%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Nex Group (NXG) 869.00p 29.60%
Dignity (DTY) 994.86p 5.22%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 201.10p 5.01%
Provident Financial (PFG) 963.80p 2.31%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,150.63p 2.01%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 638.00p 1.75%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 4,465.00p 1.71%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 359.40p 1.53%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,276.00p 1.27%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 261.70p 1.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Kier Group (KIE) 962.00p -7.32%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 104.40p -4.57%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 448.19p -4.31%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 182.10p -4.11%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 966.50p -4.02%
Investec (INVP) 595.20p -3.66%
Polymetal International (POLY) 756.40p -3.17%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 495.00p -2.85%
Capita (CPI) 158.80p -2.76%
RPC Group (RPC) 799.80p -2.70%