London midday: FTSE holds head above water after Macron win

London stocks were nudging a touch higher by midday, faring better than their counterparts in Europe, where investors conformed to the old adage of buying the rumour and selling the fact following centrist Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French presidential election.

Pro-EU former investment banker Macron defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen with 66.1% of the vote to 33.9%.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,307.43, but in Europe, the Stoxx 600 index was down 0.3%, while France's CAC 40 was 0.9% weaker, with investors likely locking in gains after the benchmark index rallied on Friday amid expectations that Macron would win.

"Emmanuel Macron’s win in the second round of the French election has generated nothing like the excitement seen in markets two weeks ago, when the young candidate topped the polling in the first round," said IG analyst Chris Beauchamp. "With markets having rallied throughout last week in expectation of a Macron win, there was little upside left for equities."

In addition, market commentators highlighted the difficulties that lie ahead for Macron.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "It appears that investors are now not assessing not who will lead France, but what the leader of France has to contend with, a list that includes June’s parliamentary elections and the still-present force of Le Pen and the millions of discontents that voted for her. And that’s not to mention the security concerns and economic woes that plagued Hollande’s presidency."

Heavily-weighted mining stocks were hit by uninspiring data from China, which showed exports rose 14.3% from the year before in yuan terms in April, following a 22.3% jump in March, while imports were up 18.6% compared to a 26.3% increase the month before. Economists had expected a rise of 16.8% and 29.3%, respectively.

Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Glencore and Anglo American were all under the cosh.

In corporate news, British Gas owner Centrica reversed earlier losses to trade higher as it said energy consumption has been lower than expected in the UK and North America so far in 2017 due to warmer than normal weather and that UK wholesale oil, gas and power prices have all fallen since it announced results in February. However, the company insisted it remained on track to achieve the 2017 targets set out in its results announcement, including adjusted operating cash flow of at least £2bn.

Premier Foods rallied after saying it has renewed its strategic partnership with Mondelez International to produce and market Cadbury-branded cake and ambient dessert products.

Construction and engineering group Costain ticked up after saying current trading was in line with expectations and that it looks forward to reporting on further progress in 2017.

Numis was trading lower as the broker reported a 38% decline in pre-tax profit for the half year and announced that its founder Oliver Hemsley will step down with immediate effect.

BBA Aviation was hit by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Citigroup, which pointed out that the company's trading update for the first four months of the year was slightly behind its expectations.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,307.43 0.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,729.33 0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 3,549.41 0.15%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Intu Properties (INTU) 277.90p 3.04%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,136.00p 2.34%
Next (NXT) 4,301.00p 1.58%
SSE (SSE) 1,445.00p 1.47%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,117.00p 1.44%
British Land Company (BLND) 672.50p 1.43%
Hammerson (HMSO) 596.00p 1.36%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 268.60p 1.36%
Kingfisher (KGF) 341.80p 1.30%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 627.00p 0.97%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 751.50p -2.28%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,924.50p -1.83%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 900.00p -1.69%
Glencore (GLEN) 284.20p -1.68%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,121.00p -1.67%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,657.00p -1.60%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,014.50p -1.55%
CRH (CRH) 2,877.00p -1.47%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,994.00p -1.40%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,400.00p -1.34%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,085.00p 3.83%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 201.40p 3.76%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 340.10p 3.66%
IP Group (IPO) 142.10p 2.60%
Hunting (HTG) 551.50p 2.51%
Workspace Group (WKP) 887.50p 2.31%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 800.50p 2.23%
Savills (SVS) 950.00p 2.15%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 345.70p 1.98%
Redefine International (RDI) 37.72p 1.97%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 419.90p -5.77%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 601.00p -4.22%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 301.30p -3.98%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,077.00p -2.94%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 186.30p -2.77%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 526.00p -2.41%
Just Eat (JE.) 563.50p -2.34%
Evraz (EVR) 202.60p -2.08%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 746.00p -1.91%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 154.50p -1.84%