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London open: Stocks flat as investors pause for breath
London stocks were little changed in early trade as investors paused for breath following strong gains in the previous session, when sentiment was underpinned by hopes that centrist Emmanuel Macron will win France’s presidential elections.
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,265.66, while the pound was up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2808.
Spreadex‘s Connor Campbell said: “After Monday’s Gallic surge the markets seem in need of a break, explaining the morning’s rather snail-like start.
“The UK is responsible for the one major piece of data this morning: the public sector net borrowing reading. The figure is forecast to remain in the red, rising from £1.1bn to £2.6bn month-on-month, news that likely won’t help out the pound.”
The figures are due at 0930 BST.
In corporate news, wealth manager St James’s Place racked up solid gains after saying first-quarter gross inflows rose 32% to £3.23bn with net inflows up to £1.99bn from £1.36bn. Group funds under management rose to £79.84bn from £62.02bn.
Specialty chemicals group Elementis advanced after saying it was on track to grow full year operating profit across its three segments after a positive first quarter of 2017.
Premier Oil gushed higher after it secured lock-in arrangements with more than 75% of the holders of its $245m convertible bonds, meaning it has the majority required to proceed with its refinancing.
Whitbread shares slumped after the Premier Inn and Costa owner missed profit forecasts for the year and, although it reported a good start to 2017, warned of a tougher consumer environment than last year.
Retail bank Virgin Money slipped despite reaffirming its full-year guidance and reporting a solid first quarter.
Tullow Oil fell after saying it has received acceptances for around 95.3% of the new shares offered in its $750m rights issue, which was announced back on 17 March.
Amec Foster Wheeler was also on the back foot as it posted a bigger-than-expected full-year pre-tax loss, while Carpetright tumbled after saying it expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year to be towards the lower end of the current range of market expectations of £13.9m to £16.2m.
Weir Group and Carillion were boosted by upgrades to ‘overweight’ at JP Morgan Cazenove, while Ascential got a lift after Berenberg started the stock at ‘buy’.
Vectura was hit by a downgrade to ‘underperform’ at RBC Capital Markets. Anglo American and Antofagasta were lower after a downgrade by Goldman Sachs, while Vedanta Resources slipped after GS removed it from its Conviction List.
