London close: Footsie little changed despite sharp gains in oil and copper futures

London´s top flight index eked out a small rise as the US dollar paused for breath amid big gains for key commodity markets.

The FTSE 100 finished 0.03% or 2.19 points higher at 6,777.96, propped up by gains of 3.5% for front month Brent crude oil futures to $48.68 a barrel and a rise of 2.10% for COMEX-traded copper futures to $2.5350 per pound.

In parallel, traders were digesting the panoply of political news out over the weekend.

Oil futures jumped after Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Sunday: "we will do everything that our partners from Opec are expecting. To freeze crude production is not an issue for us."

A report from Reuters later in the day referencing progress at a two-day meeting between OPEC experts that started on Monday also contributed to oil´s advance.

Copper futures on the other hand were higher on upbeat sentiment about the outlook for demand in China.

"Feedback from last week’s CESCO conference in Shanghai will likely be a hot topic [...] overall sentiment was solid, with most Chinese players we spoke to expecting good demand for next year (3-5%) on sustained government stimulus policies and continued signal strength from both customers and national data. [...] From here, the outlook from the hedge funds we spoke to ranged from neutral to cautiously bullish," analysts at Macquarie said in a research note sent to clients.

Meanwhile, the pound bounced back against the US dollar after Prime Minister Theresa May appeared to suggest in a speech to the CBI that she would seek a transitional Brexit deal to soften the impact for businesses once the UK leaves the EU.

By the closing bell, cable was up by 1.05% to 1.2484.

The weekend saw another political upset as ex-French prime minister Francois Fillon (44.2%) beat Nicolas Sarkozy (21%) in the French Republican party's primary elections. Fillon was now set to face another ex-prime minister, Alain Juppe (28.5%), in a second run-off vote on 27 November.

Significantly, some recent polls had shown Fillon easily beating the National Front's Marine Le Pen in a hypothetical confrontation, but there was uneasiness among some observers about the risk that Le Pen might yet upend the current political landscape.

"[Le Pen´s] presidential hopes mighthave risen after the US election result, but based on the polls released since the US elections,her chances have not. However, deep divisions among the Left, intensified by former economy minister Emmanuel Macron's presidential bid, may discourage left-wing voters from voting. This could conceivably give an advantage to Le Pen. Moreover,a rejection of the Italian referendum and a far-right victory in the Austrian presidential elections on December 4 could add momentum to anti-establishment parties," analysts at Morgan Stanley said.

Traders also welcomed news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced she would run for a fourth time in next year´s elections.

Profit warnings from Essentra and MITIE

Higher commodity prices were behind the rise in blue chip resources heavyweights Glencore, Randgold Resources, Anglo American, Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Polymetal International.

Meanwhile, Big oil found a bid on the back of the rise in oil futures.

In corporate news, as well as reporting worse profits for the first half and cutting its dividend, facilities management group Mitie said the second half should see an improvement but the full year turnout will fall short of expectations.

The company also took the decision to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market, placing the business under strategic review, with several big write-offs leading to a large first-half loss.

Essentra also cut its profit guidance for the year due to delays in delivering projects, a “soft” Chinese market and the slow integration of an acquisition. The FTSE 250 plastics company now expects the calendar year will see a 7% like-for-like revenue decline in line with the first half of the year, with adjusted operating profit of £137-142m, which was revised down from £155-165m.

The third piece of disappointing profit news came from clothing retailer Bonmarche, which reported a drop in revenue and profit for the 26 weeks to 24 September, attributing the decline in part to the weather and the fact that competitor BHS went into administration.

More positively, GlaxoSmithKline filed a US regulatory submission for a new three-drug inhaler treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema around 18 months earlier than originally planned.

Technical products supplier Diploma said full-year pre-tax profits rose 4% to £54m on the back of a rise in revenue to £382.6m from £333.8m. The total dividend jumped 10% to 20p a share.

Direct Line skidded lower, with a note from Barclays on the motor insurance sector highlighing that the company faces headwinds from the loss of the Nationwide and Sainsbury’s contracts "and faces more pressure in home insurance versus peers".

TalkTalk was also unloved after analysts at Redburn downgraded their recommendation on the shares to a 'sell', telling investors they no longer expected a dividend payment in fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

US science and technology developer Allied Minds has created a new subsidiary, Vatic Materials, which has agreed to license certain technologies from Pennsylvania State University. Vatic Materials will focus on developing materials and fabrication processes for transparent conducting thin films, such as on touch screens, lighting and photovoltaics, which will allow conductive surfaces to be potentially thinner and more cost effective.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,777.96 0.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,527.55 -0.75%
techMARK (TASX) 3,296.36 -0.64%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,005.00p 3.71%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,328.00p 3.18%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,122.50p 3.03%
Polymetal International (POLY) 782.00p 2.56%
Pearson (PSON) 785.00p 2.48%
Glencore (GLEN) 268.15p 2.39%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 681.50p 2.33%
BP (BP.) 456.25p 1.92%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,198.00p 1.81%
GKN (GKN) 309.10p 1.58%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

ITV (ITV) 165.60p -2.59%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,511.00p -2.58%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 346.50p -2.48%
Centrica (CNA) 195.20p -2.20%
Sky (SKY) 750.50p -2.15%
St James's Place (STJ) 932.50p -2.05%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 479.60p -1.90%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,610.00p -1.88%
Schroders (SDR) 2,818.00p -1.88%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 334.00p -1.82%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 230.10p 4.45%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 278.80p 4.11%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 136.50p 3.25%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 198.40p 3.06%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,280.00p 2.56%
AO World (AO.) 168.00p 2.44%
Evraz (EVR) 240.50p 1.99%
Hays (HAS) 140.90p 1.95%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 149.00p 1.85%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 804.00p 1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Essentra (ESNT) 393.30p -20.43%
Mitie Group (MTO) 190.00p -9.52%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 288.30p -6.03%
Greencore Group (GNC) 290.80p -5.58%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 171.00p -5.00%
Laird (LRD) 142.10p -3.79%
Workspace Group (WKP) 663.50p -3.63%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 671.00p -3.58%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,516.00p -3.50%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 582.50p -3.25%