London open: Stocks rise ahead of busy week; Trump-Kim summit in focus
London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, taking their cue from a positive Asian session as investors shrugged off an acrimonious G7 meeting and geared up for a busy week that includes a historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump and three central bank meetings.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5% to 7,717.33, while the pound was up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.3435 and 0.2% lower versus the euro at 1.1370 ahead of Tuesday's Brexit amendment votes in the House of Commons, which is expected to result in the shooting down of most of the 15 House of Lord's soft Brexit proposals.
Mike van Dulken, research analyst at Accendo Markets, said: "Sparks flew between President Trump and fellow leaders about the contentious issue of global trade and tariffs and he both left early, refused to endorse the group’s communique and attacked neighbouring Canada.
"Thankfully, there is more optimism about the US President’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. Potential for meaningful discussions about de-nuclearisation on the Korean peninsula could diffuse some of the tensions between US and North Korea, improve the global mood and gain Trump some brownie points after this weekend’s events at the G7."
Trump - who is hoping to get the North Korean leader to give up nuclear weapons - tweeted earlier in the day that there was "excitement in the air" ahead of the meeting.
On the data front, investors will eye the release of UK industrial and manufacturing production and trade balance at 0930 BST on what is set to be a busy week, with the ILO unemployment rate, claimant count and average earnings due on Tuesday, inflation figures on Wednesday and retail sales the day after.
More broadly, the week will be very busy in terms of central bank events, with the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan all due to make policy announcements. The BoJ is widely expected to leave interest rates on hold, while the Fed is expected to hike. As far as the ECB is concerned, markets are expecting an announcement on tapering.
In corporate news, satellite company Inmarsat rocketed after saying on Friday that it had received and rejected a bid approach from US rival EchoStar on the basis that it "very significantly undervalued" the group and its prospects.
BCA Marketplace, the car auction house and owner of WeBuyAnyCar.com, surged after it said it had rejected an earlier approach from private equity group Apax Partners, which is still mulling a potential buyout of the company.
NMC Health rallied after announcing that it will form a joint venture with Hassana Investment Co to create a new private healthcare platform in Saudi Arabia.
Vodafone gained after saying it will cut its Vodacom stake to 60.5% from 64.5% following Vodacom's plans to issue shares.
Elsewhere, Rolls-Royce declined as it said it will carry out more tests on some Trent 1000 engines that are used by Boeing after it identified a durability issue. While the aerospace and defence giant will incur extra costs for the test, it stuck by its guidance for the year.
Old Mutual slipped as it said its IPO range for wealth management arm Quilter was set at 125p to 155p per share.
In broker note action, Ocado was upgraded to 'outperform' from 'underperform' at Bernstein and to 'buy' from 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs, while Rentokil was lifted to 'buy' at HSBC.
Ophir Energy was cut to 'hold' at Jefferies, while Rio Tinto was downgraded to 'hold' at Deutsche Bank. Segro and British Land were both reduced to 'hold' by Peel Hunt. Experian was downgraded to 'hold' at Deutsche Bank.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,717.33 0.47%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,253.25 0.44%
techMARK (TASX) 3,546.29 0.47%
FTSE 100 - Risers
NMC Health (NMC) 3,548.00p 3.32%
Evraz (EVR) 511.80p 2.48%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 354.80p 1.81%
WPP (WPP) 1,233.55p 1.44%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,707.68p 1.41%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,208.50p 1.30%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,168.00p 1.28%
Informa (INF) 826.90p 1.14%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 273.20p 1.11%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 787.80p 1.10%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 826.00p -1.13%
Experian (EXPN) 1,862.50p -1.09%
Old Mutual (OML) 221.20p -0.54%
SEGRO (SGRO) 669.60p -0.33%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 245.60p -0.24%
Tesco (TSCO) 247.30p -0.24%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 527.06p -0.18%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,097.50p -0.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,416.00p -0.09%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,847.80p -0.09%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Inmarsat (ISAT) 520.80p 9.90%
BCA Marketplace (BCA) 227.50p 7.82%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,048.00p 4.86%
Capita (CPI) 159.85p 2.20%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 378.60p 1.94%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 110.00p 1.76%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 129.50p 1.73%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 465.50p 1.64%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 411.40p 1.53%
Diploma (DPLM) 1,288.00p 1.42%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aggreko (AGK) 660.80p -3.36%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 260.00p -2.26%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 232.00p -1.44%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 4,862.00p -1.38%
Coats Group (COA) 81.10p -1.10%
888 Holdings (888) 290.00p -1.02%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 420.80p -0.87%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,487.00p -0.80%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 557.50p -0.62%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 640.40p -0.59%