London midday: Stocks dragged lower by BHP Billiton, Aberdeen Asset Management

London stocks continued to decline at midday on Monday, led by Aberdeen Asset Management and BHP Billiton.

Aberdeen Asset Management declined as the investment management group said full year underlying pre-tax profits rose only slightly to £491m from £490m due to the slump in Asian and emerging market equities.

BHP Billiton slid amid news legal action its joint venture with Vale is expected to be launched today, after two dams were breached at the beginning of the month.

In economic data, British consumer credit rose 8.2% year-on-year, matching September’s nine-and-a-half-year high, according to the Bank of England.

Lending to consumers rose by £1.18bn last month, slightly less than forecast, while mortgage approvals for house purchases grew from 69,012 in September to 69,630 last month, falling slightly short of the 69,900 reading analysts had expected.

Still to come, German inflation data is due at 1300 GMT and US pending home sales will be published at 1500 GMT.

It will be an otherwise quiet day of economic reports, with the pace to set to pick up later in the week with the European Central Bank’s policy decision on Thursday and US non-farm payrolls on Friday.

In company news, Cranswick’s shares jumped on Monday as Investec reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on the stock and raised its target price to 1890p from 1870p after the food producer reported a 22% increase in half year adjusted profits to £31.5m.

Morrisons was under pressure on news it is in danger of falling out of the FTSE 100 when the index updates its list this week. “Third time might not be lucky for Morrisons’ place in the UK benchmark after it survived in the June and September reshuffles,” said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.

“There doesn’t look like there’ll be another ‘Weir Group situation’ where another listing loses a lot of market cap just prior to the promotions and demotions are decided.”

Intercontinental Hotels Group was a top riser amid reports that Chinese bidders are considering buying the company.

Meanwhile, a slight rebound in copper prices saw mining companies reverse losses earlier in the session with shares rising in Glencore, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Vedanta Resources.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,373.23 -0.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,314.29 0.28%
techMARK (TASX) 3,228.60 0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,561.00p 2.89%
Glencore (GLEN) 94.50p 2.85%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 576.00p 1.95%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,805.00p 1.78%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,660.00p 1.72%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,490.00p 1.33%
Carnival (CCL) 3,509.00p 1.33%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 503.00p 1.27%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,834.00p 1.25%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 191.00p 1.22%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 320.60p -4.24%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 776.30p -3.88%
SSE (SSE) 1,437.00p -1.58%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,240.00p -1.09%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 72.65p -1.02%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,963.00p -0.85%
Centrica (CNA) 219.00p -0.82%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,105.00p -0.72%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 153.50p -0.71%
Royal Mail (RMG) 486.60p -0.61%

FTSE 250 - Risers

AO World (AO.) 150.50p 4.51%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,771.00p 4.18%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 386.00p 3.76%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,105.00p 3.17%
Evraz (EVR) 82.00p 3.08%
Elementis (ELM) 250.30p 2.83%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 813.50p 2.65%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,837.00p 2.42%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 231.90p 2.38%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 375.20p 2.32%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Drax Group (DRX) 223.60p -4.44%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 368.10p -2.18%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 194.70p -1.86%
Diploma (DPLM) 700.50p -1.62%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 582.50p -1.52%
Pennon Group (PNN) 870.00p -1.47%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 57.50p -1.29%
BTG (BTG) 611.50p -1.21%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 241.30p -1.15%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 143.50p -1.10%