London midday: Stocks dip as UK election voting gets underway

London stocks were a touch weaker by midday on Thursday as Britons headed to the polls to vote in the snap general election called by PM Theresa May in a bid to strengthen her mandate ahead of Brexit negotiations.

A European Central Bank announcement at 1245 BST and press conference at 1330 BST, plus a testimony by former FBI boss James Comey at 1500 BST will also draw investors' attention.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,473.07 just after noon, while the pound was flat against the euro at 1.1511 and down 0.1% versus the dollar at 1.2935, having hit a two-week high against the greenback earlier as all but one of the nationwide opinion polls were showing a solid lead for the Tories as the recent narrowing over Labour eased.

The latest poll by Ipsos Mori for the Evening Standard had the Tories on 44% and Labour on 36%, compared with an earlier poll on 2 June which had the Tories on 45% and Labour on 40%. Meanwhile, YouGov's final poll for The Times overnight gave a bigger lead for the Conservatives, with May's party remaining unchanged on 42% while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour fell three points to 35%. The Liberal Democrats were on 10%, Ukip on 5%, Greens on 2% and others 6%.

The last poll by ICM for The Guardian put the Conservatives ahead by 12 points, up one point to 46% while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour’s stayed at 34%.

The FTSE 250, which is made up of more UK-focused stocks, was up 0.1% at 19,720.32.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Amid a remarkable Corbyn resurgence in the polls, FTSE traders would do well to remember the confusion caused around the US election and EU referendum, where the predicted demise of stocks in the eventuality of a Trump win or Brexit really didn’t come to fruition, catching many off guard. Ultimately the worst eventuality here would be a hung parliament, given that Brexit negotiations are due to start in just 11 days."

The ECB meeting will be particularly interesting after a leaked draft of staff projections showed the central bank is revising its GDP forecasts higher but cutting its inflation forecasts through 2019, a move that would push a potential rate hike further down the road.

Comey's testimony before the Senate panel about Russia's alleged involvement in the US presidential election will also be eyed.

Comey's prepared remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee were released on Wednesday. In the statement, he said he understood Trump was asking him to drop a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and pressured him to publicly declare that he was not under investigation. According to the remarks, Comey is set to say that Trump asked him for “loyalty” four months before he fired him as Federal Bureau of Investigation director over what he called the “Russia thing”.

In corporate news, Ultra Electronics fell after saying its US-based Ocean Systems business had won a $10m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence for the production of two variants, 101 and 102, of the Submarine Countermeasure Acoustic Device for the Royal Navy's submarine fleet.

Auto Trader Group skidded despite more than doubling its dividend as revenue and earnings beat expectations for its full-year performance.

Vodafone, Johnson Matthey, WPP, Electra Private Equity and Booker were all weaker as their stock went ex-dividend.

Going the other way, Petrofac gushed higher after securing a long-term framework agreement with Petroleum Development Oman for the provision of engineering, procurement and construction management support services for major oil and gas projects.

Workspace gained ground as it confirmed it was in talks to buy London's Salisbury House at Finsbury Circus but warned the could be no certainty a deal would take place, while Berendsen shares rocketed after the commercial laundry company agreed to a sweetened takeover offer from French peer Elis valuing it at £2.20bn.

Office space provider IWG, formerly Regus, pushed higher amid speculation it might be taken over and online fashion retailer Boohoo.com surged after it reported a rise in revenue for the three months to the end of May as it lifted its full-year sales forecast.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,473.07 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,720.32 0.12%
techMARK (TASX) 3,589.78 -0.56%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,616.00p 1.51%
British Land Company (BLND) 642.50p 1.34%
Tesco (TSCO) 180.55p 1.21%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 70.91p 1.18%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,061.00p 1.05%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,078.00p 1.03%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 279.00p 0.94%
CRH (CRH) 2,804.00p 0.94%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 758.60p 0.86%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,193.00p 0.84%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Vodafone Group (VOD) 219.45p -4.17%
WPP (WPP) 1,639.00p -2.21%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,923.00p -1.88%
Kingfisher (KGF) 308.10p -1.82%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,555.00p -1.11%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,587.50p -1.08%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,866.00p -1.02%
Diageo (DGE) 2,308.50p -0.92%
Old Mutual (OML) 196.00p -0.91%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 880.00p -0.90%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Berendsen (BRSN) 1,204.00p 8.76%
Workspace Group (WKP) 912.00p 4.05%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 362.60p 3.90%
IWG (IWG) 377.90p 3.48%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,168.00p 2.91%
PayPoint (PAY) 935.00p 2.86%
Essentra (ESNT) 581.00p 2.56%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 180.00p 2.51%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 94.70p 2.49%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 622.50p 2.38%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,855.00p -32.91%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 409.50p -5.14%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 574.50p -3.45%
Booker Group (BOK) 191.10p -2.95%
Redefine International (RDI) 38.34p -2.72%
SIG (SHI) 146.70p -2.00%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 165.00p -1.84%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 2,096.00p -1.78%
Synthomer (SYNT) 486.60p -1.70%
Assura (AGR) 62.45p -1.58%