London midday: FTSE 100 gains but 250 takes a hit from Carillion
London's FTSE 100 was slightly higher by midday, holding on to gains in fairly quiet trade, but its little sister went the other way as a profit warning from infrastructure and construction group Carillion took its toll.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.3% to 7,369.59 but the mid-cap index was down 0.3% to 19,335.68. In currency markets, the pound was off 0.1% against the dollar at 1.2876 and flat versus the euro at 1.1302.
Meanwhile, oil prices were under pressure again amid ongoing worries about oversupply following a brief recovery after last week's selloff. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude were up 0.2% to $44.30 a barrel and $46.79, respectively.
IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Crude oil appears to coming under renewed pressure this morning, in what has become an all too regular occurrence in recent months. The continued increase in OPEC output does little to encourage investors to raise expectations over prices, yet there are signs that this may be remedied, with output cuts mooted for freewheelers Libya and Nigeria.
"While Friday’s rig count rise proves that US output is unlikely to help prop up oil prices for some time yet, it is US factors that to a large extent are helping ease the glut, with driving season demand ensuring a sharp drawdown in crude stocks over the summer months."
The FTSE 250 took a hit as Carillion shares nosedived after its chief executive resigned and the board suspended the 2017 dividend and warned first-half profits would be lower and debt higher than expected. Peers Babcock and Balfour Beatty were also trading lower.
Gold miner Centamin retreated after it said production at its Sukari mine was still down on last year, while TalkTalk ticked lower as it announced the appointment of Dixons Carphone's corporate affairs director Kate Ferry as its new chief finance officer.
Heavily-weighted miners were also on the back foot, with Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American all down after softer-than-expected Chinese inflation data.
On the upside, asset manager Schroders advanced as RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform' from 'sector perform' and lifted the price target to 3,400p from 3,300p.
Aveva racked up healthy gains following a report in the Sunday Times that Schneider Electric was planning a fresh approach after two failed merger attempts.
Elsewhere, Visa's monthly consumer spending index showed spending by UK households has fallen for the second month in a row to its lowest quarterly level for three and a half years, with a 0.3% decline in household expenditure in June.
This was a slight improvement on the 0.9% decrease in May but dragged average spending for the second quarter to a 0.3% year-on-year fall, the lowest since the second half of 2013.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,369.59 0.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,335.68 -0.31%
techMARK (TASX) 3,508.15 0.11%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Unilever (ULVR) 4,252.00p 1.77%
Schroders (SDR) 3,205.00p 1.52%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 739.10p 1.50%
Sage Group (SGE) 681.50p 1.49%
Pearson (PSON) 694.50p 1.31%
BAE Systems (BA.) 625.50p 1.30%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,436.00p 1.20%
Royal Mail (RMG) 414.90p 1.12%
3i Group (III) 908.50p 1.11%
Diageo (DGE) 2,285.00p 1.06%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 262.60p -1.68%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 860.50p -1.54%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,320.00p -1.25%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 340.30p -1.22%
Glencore (GLEN) 293.80p -1.16%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,039.00p -1.14%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 723.00p -1.09%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 65.81p -1.08%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,405.00p -1.06%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 256.60p -0.81%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Sophos Group (SOPH) 471.80p 4.77%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,070.00p 2.58%
Softcat (SCT) 386.40p 2.09%
Inchcape (INCH) 773.00p 2.05%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,547.00p 1.64%
Unite Group (UTG) 650.00p 1.56%
Just Eat (JE.) 677.50p 1.42%
Computacenter (CCC) 892.00p 1.42%
Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 604.00p 1.34%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 5,450.00p 1.30%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Carillion (CLLN) 126.70p -34.04%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 28.78p -3.16%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 600.50p -3.15%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 3,560.00p -3.10%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 100.80p -3.08%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 258.60p -2.85%
Sanne Group (SNN) 648.00p -2.70%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,260.00p -2.64%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 219.00p -2.62%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 448.10p -2.59%