London open: Stocks steady but Compass tanks on results
London stocks were steady in early trade on Tuesday following solid gains in the previous session, as investors sifted through corporate releases from the likes of Compass and Intertek and continued to mull China-US trade developments.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,395.45, while the pound was down 0.2% against the dollar and the euro at 1.2874 and 1.1688, respectively.
Trade relations between the US and China were still very much in focus after China’s Commerce Ministry said earlier that Liu He, the country's top negotiator on trade, had spoken to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over the phone and both sides had "reached consensus" on how to resolve a number of issues.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Of course, the details of the call were lacking but the language used was promising which, let's face it, is all we have to go off and as long as that remains the case, investors will be optimistic of a deal."
In equity markets, CRH was on the rise as the building materials group said it expected full-year core earnings to be more than €4.15bn (£3.55bn) after a strong Americas and European performance in the first nine months of 2019 and despite a downturn in the UK due to Brexit.
Industrial thread maker Coats Group rallied after saying it was buying the business and assets of US-based Pharr High Performance Yarns for $37m (£28.7m). Pharr makes high-performance engineered yarns for the industrial thermal protection, defence and fire service industries.
Pets at Home gained as it reported an increase in interim profit and said it was on track to deliver annual pre-tax profit towards the top end of current market views.
Hiscox was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ at HSBC, while Tate & Lyle was in the green after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs.
On the downside, however, catering company Compass fell sharply after it reported a rise in annual underlying operating profit but warned of a "more challenging trading environment" in Europe.
Intertek was also on the back foot even as the inspection, product testing and certification company said it expects to deliver good organic revenue growth for 2019 and solid margin progression.
Irish food group Greencore was weaker despite posting a jump in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit and saying it expects another year of profitable growth in FY20.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,395.45 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,727.37 0.12%
techMARK (TASX) 4,091.83 0.09%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 553.00p 2.48%
CRH (CRH) 2,975.00p 2.30%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 7,010.00p 2.16%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 318.80p 1.37%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,924.00p 1.15%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,159.50p 1.09%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,005.00p 1.04%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,281.00p 0.95%
Kingfisher (KGF) 207.20p 0.93%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 177.50p 0.91%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Compass Group (CPG) 1,928.50p -6.88%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,408.00p -2.45%
Centrica (CNA) 82.44p -0.75%
Evraz (EVR) 368.40p -0.73%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,722.50p -0.72%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 446.40p -0.62%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,862.50p -0.61%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,686.50p -0.53%
Experian (EXPN) 2,551.00p -0.51%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,606.00p -0.50%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 232.80p 8.58%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 3.39p 5.74%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 381.50p 2.75%
Pennon Group (PNN) 952.00p 2.72%
Future (FUTR) 1,520.00p 2.70%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,180.00p 2.58%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 141.10p 2.32%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,584.00p 2.19%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 125.00p 1.79%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 182.00p 1.79%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Greencore Group (GNC) 234.50p -5.56%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 190.10p -3.11%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 383.50p -2.91%
Hunting (HTG) 400.00p -2.87%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 275.00p -2.83%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 463.40p -2.73%
Sanne Group (SNN) 582.00p -2.51%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 332.00p -2.41%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 117.20p -2.33%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 213.50p -2.29%