London close: Chinese data delivers boost to miners

London stocks finished on a mixed note as metals' prices advanced on the back of stronger than expected Chinese economic data, aiding the Footsie, and investors took heart from solid jobs data at home.

The FTSE 100 index saw the day out with a gain of 19.36 points or 0.29% to 6,684.99, although the FTSE 250 drifted lower by 6.40 points or 0.04% to 17,654.64, with shares in challenger banks Shawbrook and CYBG acting as the biggest drag on the latter.

Oil prices fell back again, with West Texas Intermediate down by 2.2% to $43.94 a barrel while Brent crude retreated 1.9% to trade at $46.20 by the closing bell.

Weakness in the energy patch was attributed to fresh US government data published on Wednesday revealing a 35,000 barrel increase in US oil output to 8.493m barrels a day.

UK employment levels are weathering the early post-Brexit period, official figures showed, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 4.9% in August, with jobless claims rising and average weekly earnings growth slipping only slightly.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed the claimant count rose by a bigger-than-expected 2,400 after July's first drop in five months, though this had little effect on the claimant count rate of 2.2%.

"Today’s UK jobs report for July supports holding off for now, with unemployment and earnings data showing no initial hit from Brexit," said analyst Craig Erlam at Oanda.

"Of course, this typically takes a little longer so we wouldn’t expect to see anything significant at this point. The small increase in the claimant count is a small concern although unless a trend forms, we shouldn’t get carried away with it. We’ve had a number of small increases over the last year as the pace of labour market improvement has slowed. This could just be another example of the slowdown."

However, other, such as Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, believed Wednesday's employment report was weaker than it might appear on the surface.

The three-month average rate of employment did rise by 174,000, but supported by a surge in self-employment, Tombs quipped. A shift towards part-time work was also evident, he said.

"In addition, the tiny 3K rise in the three-month average number of job vacancies between May and August and the deterioration in surveys of employment intentions, point to much slower employment growth ahead," he said.

With positive data emanating from China, including money supply and bank loan growth, Glencore led a cabal of commodities giants to the top of the FTSE leaderboard.

As of 1653 BST December 2016 copper futures on the COMEX were trading up by 2.45% $2.1530 a pound.

Housebuilders including Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley were lower after new housing minister Gavin Barwell gave a strong indication of a material shifting in housing policy, hinting that controversial Starter Homes scheme will be scrapped and the government will pursue policies to expand the public sector and private sector rental markets.

Analyst Robin Hardy at Shore Capital, who pointed out that housebuilders instead used the various government stimulus measures to create a golden trading environment with substantial benefits for margins, returns, cash flow and dividends, said the new policy direction "likely to see a change in the dynamics of the house builders’ profitability especially if there is any adjustment to the scope and scale of Help-to-Buy".

However, construction group Galliford Try was topping the 250 list as it hoisted its dividend 21% after posting a record annual profit thanks to strong growth at its housebuilding and regeneration units.

Elsewhere, Compass Group gained ground after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’.

Going the other way, Ocado lost another 8%, sinking to its lowest point in a month after a downgrade to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’ from analysts at Exane.

Telecommunications company Sky nudged a touch lower after saying it has invested £1m in the Drone Racing League (DRL), which includes a distribution deal to show the league on the Sports Mix channel from October.

FTSE 250 homeware retailer Dunelm was little changed after reporting a rise in full-year profit and revenue as it grew its market share despite increasing competition, and lifted its dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,684.99 0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,654.64 -0.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,456.61 0.44%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 806.30p 2.87%
Glencore (GLEN) 181.45p 2.49%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 509.00p 2.23%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,144.00p 2.14%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,981.00p 2.06%
3i Group (III) 627.50p 1.87%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,952.00p 1.75%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,639.00p 1.67%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 488.40p 1.60%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,875.00p 1.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

easyJet (EZJ) 1,084.00p -4.41%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 149.70p -2.35%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,748.00p -2.35%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 321.80p -2.13%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,576.00p -1.90%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,251.00p -1.81%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 474.60p -1.80%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 365.90p -1.77%
Sky (SKY) 826.50p -1.43%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,860.00p -1.17%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,215.00p 7.43%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 269.70p 5.48%
Softcat (SCT) 331.60p 4.05%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,769.00p 3.63%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,104.00p 3.56%
Vectura Group (VEC) 137.30p 3.47%
Genus (GNS) 1,950.00p 3.34%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,000.00p 2.62%
Just Eat (JE.) 544.50p 2.54%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 247.20p 2.23%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 257.00p -7.55%
PayPoint (PAY) 1,000.00p -3.85%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 234.20p -3.78%
CYBG (CYBG) 249.40p -3.71%
Debenhams (DEB) 58.35p -3.63%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 192.20p -3.17%
Redrow (RDW) 390.00p -3.01%
Pendragon (PDG) 30.57p -2.98%
Bellway (BWY) 2,213.00p -2.85%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 457.40p -2.68%