London open: Stocks little changed as investors eye payrolls report
London stocks were little changed in early trade on Friday as investors eyed the release of the key non-farm payrolls report and digested news that US President Trump has accepted an offer to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,196.33 and the pound was flat against the dollar at 1.3809 and 0.1% firmer versus the euro at 1.1225.
Trump has agreed to meet with Kim Jong Un by May for talks about its nuclear weapons, something North Korea has been seeking with an American president for more than twenty years.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Despite a 24 hour period stuffed with international developments, the markets avoiding any drastic movements this Friday.
"Perhaps it’s because investors are caught between Donald Trump signing an order dictating tariffs on metal imports - but one with room for country-by-country exceptions - and the news that the President is set to meet Kim Jong-un for an unprecedented summit.
"It appears that the former is informing trading more than the latter, though the relatively measured nature of the early losses suggests that the North Korea news may have helped matters. Of course, adding to the apparent reticence is the looming US non-farm jobs report, with investors set to dig through the wage growth data especially to assess it for any hawkish qualities."
The non-farm payrolls report, unemployment rate and average hourly earnings are all due at 1330 GMT. Before that, UK industrial production, manufacturing production and trade balance are at 0930 GMT.
In corporate news, satellite operator Inmarsat fell after saying it would be cutting its annual dividend to 20 cents a share as it cited “the lack of visibility” over future cash payments from the US 5G Ligado Networks beyond the end of 2018 and the need to take advantage of the growing in-flight wi-fi market.
Renewi slumped after the waste-to-products business said a review of contracts in its waste management division would lead to additional write-downs worth a £73m.
On the upside, sports betting and gaming company GVC Holdings, which received shareholder approval for its merger with Ladbrokes Coral this week, rallied as posted a rise in full-year adjusted profit and net gaming revenue, thanks in part to the acquisition of Bwin.
Building products supplier SIG edged just a little higher even as it reported a 10% decline in underlying profits and cash flow shrinking by a third as the UK market becomes "increasingly challenging". Underlying profits were higher than some analysts forecast due to property disposals.
In broker note action, Smurfit Kappa was upgraded to ‘hold’ at Kepler Cheuvreux, Esure was lifted to ‘outperform’ by RBC Capital Markets and G4S was upgraded to ‘hold’ at SEB Equities.
Meanwhile, Pennon and Severn Trent were boosted to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan and Acacia Mining and Centamin were initiated at ‘sell’ and ‘hold’, respectively, by Berenberg.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,196.33 -0.10%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,008.10 0.20%
techMARK (TASX) 3,386.66 -0.11%
FTSE 100 - Risers
NMC Health (NMC) 3,474.00p 3.33%
G4S (GFS) 265.10p 2.63%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,258.00p 1.81%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,820.00p 1.59%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,596.00p 1.14%
Aviva (AV.) 514.00p 1.06%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 612.80p 0.96%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 704.40p 0.77%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,252.50p 0.74%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,597.00p 0.66%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
WPP (WPP) 1,214.50p -1.30%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,656.50p -0.99%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,968.50p -0.93%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,010.00p -0.79%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 915.00p -0.74%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 276.60p -0.72%
Schroders (SDR) 3,351.00p -0.71%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 206.17p -0.69%
Ferguson (FERG) 5,304.00p -0.56%
Carnival (CCL) 4,717.00p -0.55%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Cineworld Group (CINE) 244.67p 3.32%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 928.00p 3.05%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 589.39p 2.15%
Pennon Group (PNN) 643.80p 2.13%
Vectura Group (VEC) 79.15p 1.81%
esure Group (ESUR) 228.00p 1.79%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 166.00p 1.59%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 479.60p 1.52%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 954.00p 1.49%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 237.80p 1.41%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Renewi (RWI) 84.95p -4.98%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 441.30p -4.87%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 294.80p -2.38%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 184.20p -2.07%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 133.55p -1.87%
Serco Group (SRP) 95.20p -1.86%
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA) 383.75p -1.35%
Dignity (DTY) 891.50p -1.27%
Fenner (FENR) 470.80p -1.26%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 75.40p -1.18%