London midday: Shares edge up as pound slumps on Brexit woes

Stocks in London were edging higher by midday on Tuesday, while the pound hit an eight-week low against the dollar after parliament approved the government's plan to kick off the process of leaving the European Union.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,384.02, while sterling was down 0.8% against the dollar to 1.2127, having fallen to 1.2109 earlier - its lowest level since 17 January. The pound was off 0.6% versus the euro at 1.1405 and 0.7% on the dollar to 1.21.

"With a Federal Reserve rate hike on the horizon (and the prospect held rates from the Bank of England on Thursday), calls for a second Scottish independence referendum and a fast approaching Article 50 trigger date, there isn’t a lot going sterling’s way at the moment," said Connor Campbell at Spreadex.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May won the right to kick off divorce proceedings with the European Union after parliament passed the Brexit bill overnight, which is now expected to receive Royal Assent and become law later on Tuesday.

It is expected that May will wait another two weeks before getting the Brexit process underway.

Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon outlined plans on Monday to hold a second independence referendum, an idea that was condemned by May, who said it would create "uncertainty and divisions".

Away from Brexit, market participants were eyeing Wednesday's rate announcement by the US Federal Reserve. With investors pricing in a rate hike of 25 basis points to between 0.75% and 1.00%, the focus is likely to be on the 'dot plot' for the projection of future rate hikes and any hawkish signals from the central bank.

In corporate news, Prudential rallied after its full-year results beat City forecasts, while wealth manager Investec gained ground as it said it expects operating profit for the current financial year to be "comfortably ahead" of the previous year.

Others in the financials sector, led by RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, were weaker, which analysts said was likely to be due to Article 50 uncertainty and a possible dovish BoE on Thursday.

Antofagasta edged up as it said higher metals prices and lower cash costs helped push full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 78.7% to $1.6bn.

Ocado was on the front foot after it reported that sales growth remained in cruise control in the first quarter of 2017 and while order size continued to shrink it did so at a slower rate.

Oilfield services company Wood Group ticked higher after winning two contracts totalling $84.89m to provide engineering services to develop deepwater production for BP’s Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Specialist building products distributor SIG surged after it announced the appointment of Meinie Oldersma as it new chief executive as it reported a "disappointing" 2016. Investors appeared to be reassured that trading has not worsened and that numbers were in line with management's recent guidance for underlying pre-tax profit.

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon and gold digger Acacia Mining were lifted by rating upgrades from Peel Hunt.

FTSE 250 merchant bank Close Brothers edged higher as it reported a jump in first-half operating profit thanks to a solid performance across the business and lifted its interim dividend.

Inter-dealer broker TP ICAP was in the red despite posting full-year revenue that was just ahead of analysts' expectations.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,384.02 0.23%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,025.72 -0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 3,477.62 0.32%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Prudential (PRU) 1,715.00p 3.03%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,368.00p 1.24%
Capita (CPI) 575.00p 1.23%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 989.50p 1.18%
easyJet (EZJ) 995.00p 1.07%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,921.00p 1.05%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,031.00p 1.04%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,035.00p 1.01%
3i Group (III) 736.50p 0.96%
BT Group (BT.A) 334.55p 0.89%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 233.80p -3.11%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 329.70p -2.40%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 67.38p -1.69%
Pearson (PSON) 662.00p -1.49%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,188.00p -1.26%
Worldpay Group (WPG) 288.50p -1.16%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,308.00p -0.98%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,098.00p -0.94%
Next (NXT) 3,933.00p -0.93%
Barclays (BARC) 228.10p -0.91%

FTSE 250 - Risers

SIG (SHI) 120.10p 12.03%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 271.30p 5.07%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 273.90p 3.01%
Allied Minds (ALM) 397.70p 2.50%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 471.50p 2.39%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,702.00p 2.35%
Berendsen (BRSN) 834.50p 2.33%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,279.00p 2.32%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,574.00p 2.27%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,637.00p 2.09%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Carillion (CLLN) 224.90p -3.35%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,232.00p -3.32%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 361.80p -3.21%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 204.20p -2.72%
JRP Group (JRP) 146.20p -2.53%
IP Group (IPO) 151.50p -2.07%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 133.10p -1.99%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 748.00p -1.90%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 330.50p -1.87%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 325.50p -1.84%