London midday: Stocks pare losses as pound slides; ECB eyed

London stocks had pared losses by midday on Thursday thanks to a slide in the pound and solid performance from the likes of St James's Place and Ashtead, as investors looked to the latest policy announcement from the European Central Bank and Brexit-related headlines.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 6,837.86, while the pound was off 0.3% against the dollar at 1.3030 and flat versus the euro at 1.1487 - having hit its best levels on Wednesday since mid-November - as the cross-party People's Vote campaign admitted that it does not yet have enough support from MPs to get another EU referendum.

The ECB is predicted to keep monetary policy unchanged, so attention will turn to Mario Draghi's press conference.

"The ECB is widely expected to push back expectations for its first post-crisis era rate hike, which was initially being eyed for the end of the summer," said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam. "They may hold off on this today though, instead waiting until March when they have new economic projections on which to base it on. That’s not to say that Draghi won’t hint that such a move is likely, with the new projections likely being revised lower based on the numbers we’re already seeing."

The ECB rate announcement is at 1245 GMT and the press conference is at 1330 GMT.

Meanwhile, trade relations between the US and China remained on investors' minds as the Chinese commerce ministry said that there would be in-depth talks between the two on economic and trade issues during Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s US visit next week.

On the corporate front, Vodafone was weaker a day ahead of its first-quarter trading update, after its South African business, Vodacom, reported a slowdown in service revenue.

Rentokil was also on the back foot after US peer Rollins' fourth-quarter earnings per share missed analysts' expectations.

Countryside Properties lost ground as the housebuilder and urban regenerator posted a 28% increase in first-quarter completions, mostly thanks to a boost from affordable housing.

Restaurant Group, which completed the acquisition of Wagamama in December, was also weaker as it reported a 2% dip in 2018 like-for-like sales but said it expects to deliver profit in line with market expectations.

On the upside, wealth manager St James's Place rose as it said inflows slowed in the final months of the year as it saw challenging market conditions squeeze funds under management. Still, Peel Hunt said net inflows of £2.6bn were slightly ahead of consensus, while client retention remained strong.

Equipment rental firm Ashtead gained following well-received earnings from US peer United Rentals overnight.

Premier Oil gushed higher on the back of positive results from a well appraisal offshore Mexico and outsourcer Capita was higher as it won a new three-year payments solution contract with Luxon Payments.

Games Workshop, Pennon and Stagecoach were among the companies whose stock went ex-dividend.

Just Eat rallied after an upgrade to 'overweight' at JPMorgan, but Reckitt Benckiser was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'underperform' at Jefferies and Crest Nicholson slumped after a downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' at Redburn. Auto Trader was also lower after a downgrade to 'add' at Peel Hunt.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,837.86 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,623.52 0.22%
techMARK (TASX) 3,359.84 -0.56%

FTSE 100 - Risers

St James's Place (STJ) 969.20p 2.95%
3i Group (III) 830.20p 2.17%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,909.50p 2.11%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,199.50p 1.74%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 322.80p 1.73%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 292.60p 1.53%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 542.50p 1.52%
British Land Company (BLND) 570.80p 1.46%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,738.00p 1.41%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,164.00p 1.31%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,604.10p -3.11%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 145.30p -2.65%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,256.50p -1.84%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,971.00p -1.33%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,502.00p -1.20%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 337.00p -1.12%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,610.00p -0.89%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 452.20p -0.81%
Experian (EXPN) 1,937.00p -0.67%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,423.50p -0.66%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Capita (CPI) 120.63p 4.90%
Sanne Group (SNN) 470.00p 4.44%
Premier Oil (PMO) 71.20p 4.32%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 641.00p 4.23%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 1,394.82p 3.70%
Just Eat (JE.) 673.20p 3.28%
Ascential (ASCL) 392.40p 2.83%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 206.00p 2.49%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 396.00p 2.48%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 188.10p 2.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 2,920.00p -3.63%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 19.27p -3.02%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 132.54p -2.92%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,094.00p -2.84%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 151.50p -2.26%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 156.40p -2.25%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 988.00p -2.18%
Primary Health Properties (PHP) 112.97p -1.94%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 4,112.00p -1.91%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,254.00p -1.88%