London open: Stocks flat but miners drop on China data; Trump eyed
Stocks in London were little changed in early trade, although miners slumped on disappointing Chinese data, as investors looked to the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump later in the day.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,203.38. Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher, with West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude up 0.5% to $52.37 a barrel and $54.44, respectively.
Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said: “Just after City traders switch off their screens, Donald Trump will become Mr President. It's when nervous investors, already sitting on fat profits after a stunning run since the US election, worry that Trump could start doing real damage.
“Only now do we find out if Trump can deliver on any of his economy-boosting policy promises. In his first 100 days, it will be absolutely critical that both he and his unknown team say and do enough to convince financial markets he can deliver.
“The big fear is that the honeymoon is over even before the wedding night. Traders have already taken some money off the table, and markets are undeniably jumpy. But despite some selling, no one wants to call this rally over prematurely, and indices remain near record highs. Even the pros don't know which way this will go, near-term at least.”
Miners were under the cosh following some uninspiring economic growth figures out of China, with Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore all weaker.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed China's GDP expanded 6.8% on the year in the fourth quarter of 2016. This was ahead of the 6.7% forecasts by economists.
For 2016 as a whole, however, the economy grew 6.7%, within the government’s 6.5% to 7% target but marking the weakest growth in 26 years.
In corporate news, Synthomer surged after saying the positive trends experienced in its Europe and North America business during the first three quarters of the year continued through the fourth quarter, leading to an overall performance ahead of original expectations.
Chilean copper miner Antofagasta lost ground as it said it will exit the Alto Maipo hydroelectric power project, by selling its 40% stake to partner AES Gener, due to an expected overrun of costs.
FTSE 250 merchant bank Close Brothers nudged up as it expressed confidence over its full-year results and reported growth in its loan book. In the five months to the end of December, the loan book was up 2.3% to £6.6bn, driven by good growth, particularly in the premium finance and property businesses. On the year, this was a 9.3% rise.
UK retail sales figures are at 0930 GMT and Trump’s inauguration is at 1700 GMT.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,203.38 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,207.69 -0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,359.54 -0.01%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,116.00p 1.29%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,115.00p 1.08%
BT Group (BT.A) 382.05p 1.06%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 484.80p 0.85%
National Grid (NG.) 942.40p 0.63%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 65.13p 0.60%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,047.00p 0.58%
Schroders (SDR) 2,999.00p 0.57%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,221.00p 0.57%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,313.50p 0.57%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Mail (RMG) 412.80p -2.30%
Tesco (TSCO) 199.00p -1.78%
GKN (GKN) 336.10p -1.73%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,400.00p -1.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,286.00p -1.23%
Pearson (PSON) 582.00p -1.10%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 500.00p -1.09%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 744.50p -1.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 312.85p -1.03%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 265.80p -0.82%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Synthomer (SYNT) 426.20p 12.90%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 464.90p 2.63%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 226.10p 1.62%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 932.00p 1.53%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 182.00p 1.45%
Card Factory (CARD) 239.90p 1.44%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 219.80p 1.29%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 121.50p 1.25%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 150.20p 1.14%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 4,382.00p 1.01%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
IP Group (IPO) 184.60p -2.53%
AO World (AO.) 156.00p -2.38%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 403.90p -2.16%
Mitie Group (MTO) 199.50p -2.06%
AA (AA.) 265.60p -1.96%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 234.30p -1.60%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 267.60p -1.51%
PayPoint (PAY) 953.00p -1.45%
Evraz (EVR) 221.90p -1.38%
Meggitt (MGGT) 436.60p -1.22%