London open: Stocks little changed ahead of retail sales data

London stocks were little changed in early trade on Thursday after ending the previous session at a six-week low, as investors eyed the release of the latest UK retail sales figures.

At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 held its ground at 7,374.36, while the pound was steady against the euro at 1.1168 and down 0.1% versus the dollar at 1.3164.

UK retail sales for October are due at 0930 GMT, on the back of an 0.8% month-on-month slump for September and following further bad news for consumers on inflation, wages and employment from the Office for National Statistics this week.

The consensus expects month-to-month volumes to mount a slight return to 0.1%, but recent surveys, including from the British Retail Consortium, CBI and BDO, indicated October's numbers may even disappoint these low expectations. Compared to last year, the consensus is for retail sales to fall 6% as October last year saw strong growth.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said if the consensus forecast is met, "it’s hardly the kind of number that’ll reassure the markets that UK consumers are coping with the erosion of their pay packets, especially not heading into the key Christmas period”.

In corporate news, private equity firm 3i Group was the standout gainer after it reported “continued progression” in its net asset value per share for the first half, rising to 652p from 604p at the start of the period.

EasyJet flew higher after Dart Group, the owner of Jet2, reported a rise in first-half revenue and pre-tax profit.

British Land advanced as it said EPRA net asset value increased 2.6% in the six months to 30 September to 939p.

Royal Mail gained ground as it said underlying profits improved in the first half of the year, though the costs of transforming the business saw reported operating profits plummet more than 80%.

Centrica was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘reduce’ at Kepler, while Aveva was higher after JPMorgan Cazenove lifted the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ and FirstGroup rose as RBC Capital upgraded it to ‘sector perform’ from ‘underperform’.

On the downside, GKN suffered the heaviest losses after saying it has parted company with Kevin Cummings, who was due to step up to be chief executive at the aircraft and vehicle parts maker.

Prudential was weaker despite saying that life insurance new business profit rose 17% in the first nine months of the year, reflecting higher sales and more favourable economic conditions.

Virgin Money was in the red despite saying it remains on track to meet financial targets for FY 2017 and announcing the launch of a new SME savings account in January 2018.

Qinetiq fell even as first-half revenues came in more or less as expected, while TalkTalk was hit by a downgrade to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.

Spire Healthcare lost ground as Mediclinic said discussions with the group have continued, but no agreement has yet been reached on any of the key terms of an offer.

Marks & Spencer, Shell and Bunzl were on the back foot as their stock went ex-dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,374.36 0.02%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,764.26 0.36%
techMARK (TASX) 3,433.78 0.27%

FTSE 100 - Risers

3i Group (III) 930.00p 3.51%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,283.00p 2.56%
Centrica (CNA) 168.10p 1.57%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,748.00p 1.57%
British Land Company (BLND) 605.00p 1.42%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 192.30p 1.32%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,577.00p 1.32%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 596.50p 1.27%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,515.00p 1.19%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 194.10p 1.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

GKN (GKN) 294.70p -5.18%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,037.00p -1.43%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 305.10p -1.10%
BT Group (BT.A) 244.60p -1.03%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,312.00p -0.98%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,378.50p -0.96%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,128.00p -0.84%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,416.00p -0.82%
Prudential (PRU) 1,845.00p -0.81%
WPP (WPP) 1,243.00p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Royal Mail (RMG) 402.30p 3.42%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 511.00p 3.02%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,604.00p 2.97%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 248.30p 2.35%
Hunting (HTG) 501.00p 2.35%
Nex Group (NXG) 583.00p 2.19%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,961.00p 2.19%
Capita (CPI) 479.80p 1.83%
Evraz (EVR) 292.70p 1.77%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 258.30p 1.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 280.80p -5.33%
Dignity (DTY) 2,060.00p -4.85%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 211.30p -3.95%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 264.30p -3.89%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 175.50p -1.52%
The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) 105.00p -1.22%
IP Group (IPO) 139.00p -1.21%
Coats Group (COA) 85.30p -1.16%
Polymetal International (POLY) 889.50p -1.00%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 374.20p -0.72%