London midday: Stocks eke gains as pound slips on Brexit angst; Carillion tanks

London stocks had managed to eke out small gains by midday on Friday, reversing an earlier drop as the pound slipped back on renewed Brexit angst.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,397.37, while the pound was down 0.2% against the euro at 1.1187 and flat versus the dollar at 1.3195.

Sterling was wobbling again as the government was reported to be mulling ways of climbing down from plans to fix the exact timing of the Brexit date as the prospect loomed of a lost Commons vote on the issue.

Analyst Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: “Initially sterling had shot half a percent higher against the dollar as news that US special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed more than a dozen of Trump’s campaign staff back in October quickly undid the gains the greenback had managed after House Republicans passed their tax plan. Now cable is flat, the wrong side of $1.32, and not because of any great recovery from the dollar, which is down 0.3% against the euro and 0.4% against the yen.

“No, it seems that the continued Brexit discord between the UK and the EU, as well as the generally depressing situation the country’s consumers find themselves in following the week’s data, is dragging sterling lower.”

The overall mood was fairly subdued following a busy week, which included a deluge of corporate releases and data on inflation, retail sales, unemployment and wages.

On the corporate front, broadcaster Sky was the standout gainer following reports that Comcast and Verizon have approached 21st Century Fox to buy some assets.

Construction and maintenance group Kier rallied after saying it made a smooth start to the year and it is confident of delivering double-digit profit growth.

Ferrexpo was on the front foot after it signed a new secured three year revolving credit facility of $195m that will be used for general corporate purposes.

Pest control and hygiene company Rentokil Initial traded higher as it agreed the issue of a €400m 0.95% bond, due 22 November 2024.

Petrofac gushed higher following a report that Schlumberger and Halliburton are among the companies looking to approach it with a bid.

CRH was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley, while B&Q owner Kingfisher edged up after an upgrade to ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.

Going the other way, construction group Carillion tumbled after issuing its third profit warning in 12 months, saying full-year profits will be “materially lower” than current market expectations and that it now expects to breach its covenants.

United Utilities was hit by a downgrade to ‘hold’ from HSBC, while Supergroup fell after being downgraded to ‘sector perform' at RBC Capital Markets. Just Eat was knocked lower after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock on valuation grounds.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,397.37 0.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,844.61 -0.03%
techMARK (TASX) 3,453.71 -0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Sky (SKY) 928.50p 2.82%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,287.00p 2.24%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,857.00p 1.93%
Kingfisher (KGF) 304.40p 1.43%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,754.00p 1.35%
CRH (CRH) 2,710.00p 1.35%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 420.70p 1.03%
British Land Company (BLND) 624.50p 0.97%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,352.50p 0.92%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,000.00p 0.91%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

United Utilities Group (UU.) 798.50p -4.31%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 560.00p -3.20%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,095.00p -2.29%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,682.00p -1.66%
SSE (SSE) 1,362.00p -1.23%
ITV (ITV) 148.50p -1.20%
Sage Group (SGE) 755.00p -1.11%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 927.50p -1.01%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,331.00p -0.97%
BAE Systems (BA.) 537.00p -0.92%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 421.40p 3.56%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 233.00p 2.73%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 248.90p 2.26%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,510.00p 1.85%
IWG (IWG) 195.70p 1.77%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 287.30p 1.70%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 207.70p 1.66%
Nex Group (NXG) 599.00p 1.61%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 166.10p 1.59%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 208.10p 1.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Just Eat (JE.) 790.00p -4.13%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 848.50p -3.03%
Evraz (EVR) 282.20p -2.69%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 25.47p -2.23%
Greene King (GNK) 525.00p -2.14%
Drax Group (DRX) 279.00p -2.11%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 984.00p -1.99%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 595.00p -1.98%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 118.00p -1.83%
Elementis (ELM) 258.80p -1.82%