London open: Stocks slip as investors sift through trading updates

London stocks slipped in early trade on Thursday as positive cues from Wall Street were offset by profit taking and shares going ex-dividend day amid a torrent of trading updates.

At 0850 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,714.41 though the FTSE 250 mid-cap index was in positive territory at 20,770.71. The pound was flat against the dollar at 1.3835 and down 0.1% versus the euro at 1.1334.

Analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said that holding above support at 7,715 will either prove a platform for recovery for the FTSE 100 or merely a consolidation break lower towards 7,688.

In corporate news, profit taking hit Royal Mail, which declined after a strong recent run and as it reported on a solid performance over the Christmas trading period, and Associated British Foods, which was weaker as it reported a 3% increase in revenues in recent weeks, as strong growth from its Primark clothing retail arm helped offset a big decline in sugar.

Halfords fell despite reporting a rise in third-quarter sales and record sales over Christmas and Black Friday.

GKN slipped as it called Melrose Industries out over its offer statement, saying it was "misleading", after the engineer rejected a sweetened but hostile bid of £7.4bn a day earlier.

Rightmove was hit by a downgrade to 'underweight' at JPMorgan, while Premier Oil was lower after a downgrade to 'hold' by Investec. Metro Bank was weaker as Berenberg initiated coverage of the stock at 'sell'.

SSE, Compass Group, Shaftesbury and Micro Focus were all in the red as their stock went ex-dividend.

On the upside, Whitbread was in the black despite warning that tough UK conditions were brewing, as the Costa and Premier Inn owner said sales rose 0.3% in the third quarter.

Mining giant BHP edged up after saying said it was looking at offloading its US shale oil business either a trade sale, demerger or public offering. In a quarterly update the company reported a 20% rise in copper production to 429,000 tonnes, iron ore output rose 3% to 62m tonnes, 6% per cent to 48m barrels.

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty rallied after saying the recently-enacted US tax changes would lower its effective tax rate on US earnings to 26% from 40% in 2018 and beyond.

Information services giant Experian ticked up as it reported an 8% improvement in revenue for the three months to 31 December.

Hargreaves Lansdown was the standout gainer as Barclays reiterated its 'overweight' stance on the stock and lifted the price target, while Britvic was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Deutsche Bank.

On the data front, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' monthly house price index rose to +8 in December from 0 in November, which had been the worst reading since March 2013. Economists had been expecting the index to be unchanged.

But the survey found that last year's cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers has done nothing to boost demand, with the new buyer enquiries balance falling to -15 in December from -5 in November.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,714.41 -0.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,770.71 0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,503.22 -0.56%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,903.50p 3.45%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,400.00p 1.69%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,917.00p 1.61%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 467.40p 0.82%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 652.00p 0.62%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,028.00p 0.59%
Next (NXT) 5,030.00p 0.56%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,152.00p 0.56%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,405.00p 0.54%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,624.00p 0.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

SSE (SSE) 1,304.00p -2.83%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,804.00p -1.86%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 223.95p -1.63%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 610.40p -1.39%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,506.00p -1.31%
BT Group (BT.A) 265.75p -1.21%
Pearson (PSON) 678.20p -0.99%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 995.80p -0.97%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,154.00p -0.97%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,347.20p -0.88%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Britvic (BVIC) 831.50p 3.94%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 301.90p 3.71%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 1,058.00p 3.12%
CYBG (CYBG) 333.20p 2.46%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 305.00p 1.84%
Capita (CPI) 394.50p 1.54%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 378.50p 1.47%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 937.00p 1.36%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 236.92p 1.25%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 537.50p 1.22%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

AA (AA.) 157.95p -4.36%
BTG (BTG) 721.00p -3.87%
Rightmove (RMV) 4,431.00p -2.85%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 383.20p -2.79%
Ibstock (IBST) 256.28p -2.48%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 896.00p -2.44%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 235.70p -1.96%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 280.60p -1.61%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,007.50p -1.47%
Superdry (SDRY) 1,801.00p -1.21%