London midday: Miners limits downside, but stocks still lower on Greek woes

UK stocks dropped on Monday morning but had erased some of their losses by lunchtime, as miners were supported by hopes of stimulus measures in China.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 6,809 by midday, but had bounced after having fallen as much as 1% to an intraday low of 6,777.99 earlier on.

Ongoing concerns about Greece had ensured a negative start to the week, but the downside was limited by a resilient mining sector in London, as weak Chinese trade figures boosted speculation that policymakers may step in.

The Chinese trade surplus unexpectedly ballooned to $60bn in January from $49.6bn the month before, as imports sank by an annual rate of 19.9%. Exports were also weak, falling by 3.3%.

Mining stocks were “holding up surprisingly well this morning” despite the data, according to Mike van Dulken from Accendo Markets.

“While the news would normally see the natural resources focused names on the FTSE suffer, however, their relative buoyancy likely comes from expectations of more stimulus being forthcoming from Beijing (government or People’s Bank of China) in order to keep [economic] growth in the world’s #2 economy at a level markets are comfortable with,” he said.

In other news, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras addressed parliament over the weekend, standing firm on his plans to ease austerity measures in his first major speech since taking his new role. "After five years of bailout barbarity, our people cannot take any more,” he said.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was cited as saying on Monday that Greece’s new government should not assume that the Eurozone will accept its plans to scrap economic reforms.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone Sentix investor confidence index surged to 12.4 in February from 0.9 in January, coming in well ahead of the 3.0 consensus forecast.

Miners shrug off weak data

Fresnillo, Randgold, Glencore, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Polymetal and Kaz Minerals were all putting in decent gains on hopes for stimulus in China. Randgold advanced even though it reported a 17% drop in annual profits for last year, though it did hike its dividend payment by 20%.

Even Anglo American was rising despite revealing that its contribution to underlying profits from its platinum division in South Africa plummeted 92% in 2014 as a result of a five-month strike and lower metal prices.

Natural gas producer BG Group edged higher after bringing forward the starting date of its new boss by one month. Statoil’s Helge Lund will join immediately, the company said.

Oil services group Hunting also gained after being upgraded to ‘buy’ by Deutsche Bank.

Concerns about overpaying for Premier League broadcast rights were weighing on shares BT and Sky, amid reports that the auction could be heading for a second round and with a third bidder. There were also rumours that Discovery, which owns Eurosport, has entered the dray “and this may be causing the complication for the auction process”, according to UBS.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,068.52 -0.83%
FTSE 100 6,808.98 -0.65%
FTSE 250 16,539.53 -0.88%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 882.00p +2.56%
Glencore (GLEN) 269.05p +1.38%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,380.00p +1.32%
Tesco (TSCO) 231.40p +1.18%
BG Group (BG.) 944.50p +1.03%
CRH (CRH) 1,740.00p +0.93%
Royal Mail (RMG) 459.60p +0.83%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,268.50p +0.82%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,517.00p +0.80%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,050.00p +0.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 438.50p -3.48%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 963.50p -3.02%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,796.00p -2.36%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,273.00p -2.23%
Hammerson (HMSO) 685.00p -2.21%
GKN (GKN) 371.60p -2.13%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 134.20p -2.12%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,162.00p -2.11%
National Grid (NG.) 890.20p -2.10%
WPP (WPP) 1,420.00p -2.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Polymetal International (POLY) 621.50p +6.24%
Serco Group (SRP) 194.70p +6.05%
Soco International (SIA) 310.20p +4.83%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,067.00p +4.51%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 240.60p +3.71%
Hunting (HTG) 515.50p +3.60%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 68.50p +3.01%
RPS Group (RPS) 211.00p +2.93%
Premier Oil (PMO) 166.20p +2.40%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 166.10p +1.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 449.50p -5.21%
Halma (HLMA) 673.00p -4.67%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 550.00p -4.01%
Man Group (EMG) 170.00p -3.13%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,025.00p -2.94%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 170.10p -2.86%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,400.00p -2.83%
Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 312.50p -2.71%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 137.70p -2.69%
Hays (HAS) 152.70p -2.68%