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London open: Stocks little changed as investors eye Trump announcement
London stocks were little changed in early trade on Wednesday as investors sifted through corporate news and awaited a big announcement on tax reform from US President Donald Trump.
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,272.45, while the pound was down 0.1% versus the dollar at 1.2820.
Accendo Markets analyst Mike van Dulken said: “In focus today is a long awaited Trump Tax announcement, although with suggestions of a 10% repatriation tax for overseas cash (to fuel share buybacks, higher dividends?) and a 15% corporation tax (vs. 35%) already out in the open, the risk is markets are left wanting, yet again, with merely aims and priorities rather than any valuable progress on actual implementation.”
In corporate news, London Stock Exchange Group was on the front foot after saying it made a strong start to the year, with sales growth across the group apart from capital markets, which was hit by lower trading levels than last year.
Croda International rallied as it reported a 19% rise in first-quarter sales and kept its outlook for 2017 unchanged.
Jupiter Fund Management racked up solid gains after the asset manager reported an increase in first-quarter inflows and assets under management as its diversification strategy bore fruit.
Engineer GKN retreated after saying it had a good first quarter with organic sales growth, but warning that its growth rate may not be sustained for the full year due to tough comparators.
Building materials group CRH nudged lower as it said it had a “satisfactory” start to the year, with a 4% increase in first-quarter sales as European growth offset a flat US performance.
Metro Bank was weaker despite the challenger bank reporting record deposit growth and a rise in lending for the first quarter.
Antofagasta was just a touch lower after the Chilean miner reasserted its guidance for 2017 as it posted a 9.4% jump in first-quarter copper production. Fresnillo was also on the back foot after a production report, but BHP Billiton gained ground, while Tullow Oil gushed lower after backing its oil production guidance.
Retailer Next fell after being cut to ‘underperform’ at Jefferies, while Severn Trent was in the red after HSBC downgraded the stock ‘reduce’.
Savills was weaker following a downgrade by Peel Hunt, but housebuilder Bellway edged higher after an upgrade to ‘buy’ by the same outfit.
There are no major UK data releases due.
