London midday: Shares hold onto small gains

Stocks were seeing slight gains on Monday as traders poured over the Prime Minister´s new industrial strategy while analysts reacted to the panoply of political news out over the weekend.

As of 1208 GMT, the FTSE 100 was higher by 0.37% or 23.88 points at 6,799.65.

Many investors' eyes were on Prime Minister Theresa May as she unveiled her new industrial strategy in a speech to the CBI.

Particularly noteworthy was what some took as a suggestion that she would seek a transitional Brexit deal to soften the impact for businesses once the UK leaves the EU.

"I am conscious that there will be issues that need to be looked at ... that people don't want a cliff edge, they want to know with some certainty how things are going to go forward, that will be part of the work that we do in terms of the negotiation," she said at the business lobby group´s annual conference.

That came ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Wednesday, with Philip Hammond having said at the weekend that new government spending would be restrained due to "eye-wateringly" high levels of public debt.

Brent crude futures were up by 2.1% 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."

Nickel, copper and zinc futures were all higher as the US dollar spot index slipped 0.22% to 100.99, although coal and steel rebar futures slipped.

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 is 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 increasing uneasiness among some observers about the risk that Le Pen might yet upend the current political landscape.

However, Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, said France had avoided a Le Pen versus Sarkozy contest in the run-off for the presidential election, which could have been an unpredictable version of the Trump versus Clinton campaign in the US, with a divisive candidate from the odious right running against a mainstream candidate with significant baggage.

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

No major economic data releases were scheduled for Monday, although investors were expected to be closely watching for any possible hints about further quantitative easing from the European Central Bank when Mario Draghi spoke later in the day.

The ECB's chief was due to take part in discussions about the monetary authority's annual report at the European parliament at 1600 GMT.

Profit warnings from and MITIE

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 has also taken the decision to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market and has placed this 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 has 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.

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) 6,803.25 0.41%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,594.52 -0.37%
techMARK (TASX) 3,307.01 -0.32%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 1,129.00p 3.63%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,331.00p 3.26%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,975.00p 3.20%
Glencore (GLEN) 270.15p 3.15%
Polymetal International (POLY) 783.00p 2.69%
BP (BP.) 457.65p 2.23%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 679.50p 2.03%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,109.50p 1.93%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,022.00p 1.86%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,287.00p 1.86%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 234.00p -2.05%
Sky (SKY) 752.00p -1.96%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,540.00p -1.78%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,635.00p -1.60%
Next (NXT) 5,015.00p -1.47%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 331.60p -1.43%
Centrica (CNA) 197.00p -1.30%
St James's Place (STJ) 940.50p -1.21%
Royal Mail (RMG) 465.20p -1.17%
British Land Company (BLND) 596.50p -1.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 230.30p 4.54%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 136.30p 3.10%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 450.30p 2.29%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 196.90p 2.29%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 372.70p 2.19%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 351.10p 2.09%
Hays (HAS) 141.00p 2.03%
Investec (INVP) 516.00p 1.98%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 805.50p 1.96%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 246.40p 1.94%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Essentra (ESNT) 402.40p -18.59%
Mitie Group (MTO) 193.30p -7.95%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,499.00p -4.58%
Greencore Group (GNC) 296.50p -3.73%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 173.80p -3.44%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 699.00p -2.92%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 583.00p -2.75%
Laird (LRD) 143.80p -2.64%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 260.60p -2.51%
Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 603.00p -2.51%