London open: Stocks edge up as miners bounce back

London stocks edged higher in early trade, helped along by a strong showing in the mining sector.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7.314.38.

Investors were digesting the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, with its measure of like-for-like sales rising 5.6% in April from a year earlier, up from a 1% drop in March and better than expectations of a 0.5% increase. This marked the strongest reading since April 2006.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "April’s BRC figures are very strong, even after accounting for the boost to the year-over-year growth rate from the later timing of Easter this year compared to last. Indeed, like-for-like sales grew at the fastest rate for 11 years, despite there being five other occasions during that period when Easter occurred in the latest month but didn’t in the same month a year ago."

Heavily-weighted mining stocks were the best performers, bouncing back from losses in the previous session, with Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Fresnillo and Rio Tinto all stronger.

Elsewhere, William Hill rallied after it cleared the first quarterly fence, with growth in wagering and revenue across all four of the bookmaker's divisions, although margins tightened. As a group, net revenue in the 17 weeks to 25 April rose 9%, which was in line with market expectations.

Builders merchant Grafton was in the black as it said revenue for the first four months of the year was up 7.7% to £851m as favourable conditions from the end of 2016 continued combined with the benefits of exposure to multiple markets.

Outsourcer Mitie edged higher as it announced that Derek Mapp will take over as chairman from Roger Matthews at the annual general meeting on 26 July, when Matthews will step down after 11 years of service.

Hiscox nudged up after saying it will establish a new European unit in Luxembourg due to Brexit and reporting a 17% rise in gross premiums to £751.2m, while Paysafe gained ground as it reported in-line trading for the first quarter.

Software company Micro Focus International tanked after saying that revenues at the HPE business it is buying were down around 10% in the quarter to the end of April.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering slipped despite saying that sales growth in the first four months of the year has been ahead of the previous year, helped by an improvement in general industrial production growth rates.

Henderson Group was lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' at UBS, but Card Factory was hit by a downgrade to 'neutral' by the same outfit.

There are no major UK data releases due.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,314.38 0.19%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,773.77 0.22%
techMARK (TASX) 3,517.24 -0.45%

FTSE 100 - Risers

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,226.00p 1.71%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,024.50p 1.49%
Glencore (GLEN) 288.25p 1.34%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,139.50p 1.29%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 762.50p 1.19%
Next (NXT) 4,362.00p 1.16%
ITV (ITV) 203.10p 1.15%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,416.00p 1.07%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,963.00p 0.95%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 715.40p 0.89%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,398.00p -9.13%
Centrica (CNA) 192.80p -4.74%
SSE (SSE) 1,408.00p -2.83%
Sage Group (SGE) 689.00p -1.22%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 801.00p -0.93%
GKN (GKN) 356.30p -0.75%
National Grid (NG.) 1,021.00p -0.73%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 603.00p -0.66%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,976.00p -0.65%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 203.85p -0.63%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 460.70p 3.23%
Henderson Group (HGG) 235.30p 2.89%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 724.50p 2.11%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 770.50p 2.05%
William Hill (WMH) 304.60p 1.47%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 152.60p 1.46%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,343.00p 1.44%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 782.50p 1.43%
International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 158.60p 1.34%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 128.50p 1.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Card Factory (CARD) 315.10p -3.17%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 303.90p -1.81%
Cobham (COB) 135.20p -1.10%
PayPoint (PAY) 1,019.00p -1.07%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 95.90p -1.03%
Redefine International (RDI) 37.82p -0.94%
Allied Minds (ALM) 152.20p -0.85%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,658.00p -0.84%
Aggreko (AGK) 859.50p -0.75%
Assura (AGR) 61.05p -0.73%