London midday: Stocks flatten out but Paddy Power jumps on deal chatter

London stocks had flattened out by midday, paring earlier losses in quiet trade, with traders likely to be distracted by the hunt for some Black Friday deals, although there was some deal news for investors to sink their teeth into.

The FTSE 100 was flat at 7,416.85, while the pound was steady against the euro at 1.1231 and 0.1% firmer versus the dollar at 1.3319.

Retailers were in focus as Black Friday sales kicked off, with Next on the back foot as it took part in the event for the first time, despite CEO Simon Wolfson having previously said it "doesn’t make sense to get involved".

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Today sees UK shoppers spending an expected £8m as Black Friday sales fever grips the nation a month before Christmas. With the retail sector struggling, the increasingly discount driven shopping in recent years have provided yet another hit to the high street, with the big names such as Amazon leading the race to the bottom on prices.

"With many making their Christmas purchases across this weekend, consumer spending is becoming increasingly geared towards November and away from December, as the larger, online retailers grab the business at the expense of smaller high street firms. With sales rising at the expense of margins, there is a strong possibility that we will see retailers' profitability suffer despite rising revenues."

While billions will be spent in the UK today, UK consumer confidence has hit the lowest level since the EU referendum, paving the way for what could be a disappointing holiday season for retailers.

A consumer confidence index compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research and YouGov slipped to 106.6 in November, dropping sharply from 109.3 the month before. The survey found the largest monthly decline in optimism since the July 2016, with declines in all eight measures that make up the index.

William Hill was on the back foot after confirming it is in "very preliminary" talks with Australia's Crown Resorts about a possible merger of their local online businesses. However, Paddy Power jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board following a Reuters report that it has held talks to explore a possible tie-up with the CrownBet unit.

Rio Tinto slipped after it said that it and China's Sinosteel Corporation have agreed to extend their Channar Mining joint venture. The third extension of the joint venture would see an additional 10 million tonnes of iron ore delivered into the venture from Western Australia.

Residential landlord Grainger nudged lower after announcing the acquisition of a stabilised portfolio of three blocks in Manchester, comprising 192 private rented sector homes, for £26m.

Beleaguered doorstep lender Provident Financial retreated as it said that executive chairman Manjit Wolstenholme has died. Malcolm Le May, senior independent director, has been appointed interim executive chairman with immediate effect.

James Fisher slumped as it reported a rise in revenue for the 10 months to the end of October but warned that the full-year contribution from its offshore oil division will be lower than last year.

Whitbread was weaker after AlphaValue cut the stock to 'reduce' and UBM was down after a downgrade to 'hold' by Liberum.

Experian gained following an upgrade at Exane BNP Paribas, while Informa and Rotork were boosted by upgrades from Liberum.

Data released by UK Finance earlier showed mortgage approvals fell more than expected in October and credit card lending also decreased.

The number of new home loans approved declined to 40,488 from 41,576 in September, missing expectations for a smaller drop to 40,900 and hitting their lowest level since September last year. Approvals were a little weaker than the monthly average of 41,447 over the previous six months and 3% lower than in October 2016

However, remortgaging approvals rose to 34,036 from 30,499, well up on the monthly average of 27,163 over the last six months and 36% higher than in October last year.

Credit card lending slowed to 5.1% last month from 5.5% in September.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,416.85 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,991.67 -0.07%
techMARK (TASX) 3,476.32 -0.10%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,770.00p 2.75%
Informa (INF) 766.00p 1.93%
Experian (EXPN) 1,579.00p 1.74%
Sage Group (SGE) 816.00p 1.24%
3i Group (III) 925.00p 1.20%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 744.50p 1.14%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,488.00p 1.06%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 271.90p 0.85%
Diageo (DGE) 2,636.50p 0.82%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,421.00p 0.74%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Mediclinic International (MDC) 510.50p -2.76%
Centrica (CNA) 135.50p -1.81%
Next (NXT) 4,325.00p -1.37%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,144.00p -1.06%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,000.00p -0.97%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 615.00p -0.97%
SSE (SSE) 1,346.00p -0.88%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,572.00p -0.83%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,629.00p -0.83%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 676.89p -0.82%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 114.85p 3.10%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 357.50p 2.94%
Rank Group (RNK) 247.10p 2.66%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 839.00p 2.01%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 177.70p 1.95%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 245.50p 1.87%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,287.00p 1.83%
SIG (SHI) 167.90p 1.70%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,336.00p 1.60%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,440.00p 1.41%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,200.00p -2.91%
Serco Group (SRP) 93.75p -2.85%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,435.00p -2.16%
Capita (CPI) 471.95p -1.96%
Aggreko (AGK) 855.50p -1.84%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 320.10p -1.81%
Redefine International (RDI) 36.38p -1.62%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 270.20p -1.57%
Intu Properties (INTU) 198.60p -1.54%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 150.51p -1.50%