London midday: Stocks dip as oil prices fall on inventories data

London stocks dipped on Wednesday as oil prices fell after data showed a large build in crude inventories last week.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.06% to 7,181.58 points.

Oil prices slid after figures late on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute showed a 14.2m barrel build in its crude oil inventory last week, compared to a 5.8m barrel rise the week before and expectations for a 2.5m build.

Brent crude fell 0.32% to $54.86 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate edged down 0.57% to $51.87 per barrel at 1131 GMT.

Oil producers BHP Billiton and Royal Dutch Shell were among the top fallers on the FTSE 100.

Elsewhere, Hargreaves Lansdown slumped as a broker downgrade offset improved half-year profits and a 10% increase in the dividend. Numis cut its rating on the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' due to its recent strong run.

Homewares retailer Dunelm slumped after posting a 26% drop in pre-tax profit in the first half amid a weaker market, while Tullow Oil gushed lower as it said it was in the red for the third year running, although its operating loss narrowed.

On the upside, UK housebuilders continued to rally a day after the government released its housing white paper. The white paper outlined the government’s strategy for solving the housing crisis, including measures to support more affordable homes for the rental market and accelerating construction.

“One of the most striking points we found in the white paper was the government’s view that, in its view, those developers offering more modern methods of construction (mmc) should be favoured over those that don’t when planning is given/gov’t land is sold off,” HSBC said.

The bank said it believes Persimmon and Berkeley will benefit most from the drive to favour factory built homes while Bellway and Crest Nicholson also offer value.

Housebuilder Redrow was also on the front foot as it hiked its divided 50% after enjoying strong growth in the first half of its financial year and beginning 2017 with a record order book and strong sales momentum.

Meanwhile, Rio Tinto’s shares climbed after saying it swung to a profit in the year to the end of December thanks to a recovery in commodity prices, as it announced a better dividend than expected and a $500m share buyback.

Packaging company Smurfit Kappa advanced after it said earnings grew last year despite headwinds from higher raw material costs and adverse currency effects, while it hiked its dividend by 20%.

RSA rallied as it announced it has signed contracts to dispose of £834m of UK legacy insurance liabilities to Enstar Group.

There are no major UK data releases due.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,180.01 -0.09%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,625.13 0.35%
techMARK (TASX) 3,310.95 -0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 723.00p 3.21%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 177.50p 3.14%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,016.00p 3.01%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 231.10p 2.53%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 508.00p 2.36%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 483.70p 2.35%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,192.00p 2.24%
Sage Group (SGE) 647.00p 2.13%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 598.50p 2.05%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,043.00p 1.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,350.00p -2.60%
Pearson (PSON) 651.50p -2.32%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,111.00p -2.00%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,079.00p -1.91%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,207.50p -1.85%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,490.50p -1.55%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,367.50p -1.51%
DCC (DCC) 6,660.00p -1.11%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 793.00p -1.06%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,549.00p -0.86%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sophos Group (SOPH) 285.90p 6.01%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 299.00p 4.88%
Redrow (RDW) 471.40p 4.18%
Ascential (ASCL) 312.50p 3.99%
Bellway (BWY) 2,655.00p 3.43%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 715.50p 3.32%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 356.60p 3.18%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 432.80p 2.83%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 93.55p 2.75%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,625.00p 2.72%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 626.00p -8.55%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 279.60p -5.32%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 154.90p -3.49%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 172.00p -2.88%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 526.00p -2.59%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,061.00p -2.57%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,924.00p -2.48%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 264.90p -2.39%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 232.60p -1.98%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,272.00p -1.86%