London open: Halma paces the advance after well-received results

London stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, with Halma pacing the advance after well-received results, as investors continued to eye China-US trade developments.

At 0920 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,360.21, while the pound was flat against the dollar and the euro at 1.2952 and 1.1703, respectively.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Despite emergent doubts surrounding ‘phase one’ of the US-China trade deal, the European markets managed to climb higher after the bell.

"Even though Saturday morning’s phone call was described as ‘constructive’, CNBC claimed on Monday that the mood in Beijing is ‘pessimistic’ according to a government source, with the shift coming after Trump denied he would be rolling back tariffs. And with the ongoing impeachment hearings, and then the election next year, the talks could be significantly dragged out as China stall for a potentially better agreement. Oh, and remember, there’s also the small issue of the fresh tariffs on Chinese goods scheduled for mid-December...

"The blow of this report was eased, however, by the US government delaying its Huawei ban by another three months, a move that, if the European open is anything to go by, has been read as a sign that things are at least still cordial between the two superpowers."

In equity markets, safety, health and environmental technology group Halma rallied as it reported record first-half results thanks to revenue growth in all of its major regions and business sectors.

Intertek was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Jefferies, while Meggitt was on the rise as it secured a six-year $130m requirements contract with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia for the supply of fuel bladders.

Melrose Industries advanced after saying it was trading in line with the board’s expectations for 2019, with profit and margin in the automotive division higher in the four months from 1 July to 31 October than in the same period last year.

Intermediate Capital gained as it said first-half assets under management rose 11% to €41.1bn.

Home repairs and improvements business Homeserve traded higher as it posted a rise in interim revenue and announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in US-based home experts business eLocal for around $140m.

On the downside, Equiniti tumbled as it warned that 2019 underlying earnings would be towards the lower end of market expectations due to weaker higher margin UK corporate activity.

Big Yellow was in the red as it reported a slow start to the third quarter, while Polypipe lost ground as it said underlying operating profit for the year would be "just below" its previous expectations.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,360.21 0.72%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,634.57 0.95%
techMARK (TASX) 4,034.09 0.71%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Halma (HLMA) 2,080.00p 9.56%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,560.00p 4.79%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,832.50p 3.18%
Meggitt (MGGT) 645.20p 2.41%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 317.80p 2.35%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,515.00p 2.16%
Aviva (AV.) 422.80p 2.00%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,787.40p 1.99%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,640.50p 1.74%
Prudential (PRU) 1,324.50p 1.73%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 616.40p -1.31%
SEGRO (SGRO) 864.00p -0.58%
BT Group (BT.A) 191.60p -0.49%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,355.00p -0.38%
Diageo (DGE) 3,096.50p -0.34%
SSE (SSE) 1,332.50p -0.30%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,554.50p -0.27%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,670.00p -0.21%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 224.50p -0.18%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,712.20p -0.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 290.00p 16.47%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,596.00p 6.83%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,274.00p 6.34%
Spectris (SXS) 2,713.00p 4.43%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 146.85p 4.37%
Cobham (COB) 160.85p 3.91%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 197.50p 3.40%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 187.55p 3.33%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,195.00p 3.05%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,318.00p 2.97%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Equiniti Group (EQN) 203.80p -10.38%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,144.00p -4.03%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 460.20p -3.40%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 259.50p -1.33%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 435.00p -1.14%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,280.00p -1.08%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,888.00p -1.02%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 393.00p -0.88%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,461.00p -0.88%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 3.45p -0.81%