London midday: Stocks edge higher as miners rally

The FTSE 100 rose on Monday with mining stocks leading the way as precious metal prices gained.

At midday, the London’s top tier index increased 0.16% to 7,055.58 while the pound fell 0.23% against the dollar to $1.2405 on continued worries about Brexit.

Fresnillo, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were among the biggest risers on the FTSE 100, boosted by an increase in gold and silver prices.

Rolls-Royce was also in the black after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded its price target on the stock to 890p from 835p, saying it is the big FX winner in the UK aerospace and defence sector.

Bookmaker William Hill rallied after confirming it was in merger talks with Toronto-listed Amaya Inc, owner of the PokerStars website, having rejected offers from smaller UK rivals in the summer.

On the downside, banking shares were in the red as Deutsche Bank’s chief executive John Cryan failed to secure a speedy deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over the weekend over the mis-selling of mortgage-backed securities. Royal Bank of Scotland also soured the mood after leaked documents reportedly showed the bank tried to profit from struggling businesses.

EasyJet flew lower again as Societe Generale downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ and slashed the price target to 820p from 1,150p following the airline’s profit warning last week, pointing to a double whammy of a soft demand environment and FX headwinds.

On the macro-economic front there is little to drive markets on Monday. While US markets are open, the Columbus Day holiday means stock markets are set for a quiet afternoon. Investors are likely to continue to digest the second US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The pace is set to pick up on Tuesday when earnings season kicks off in the US with the release of Alcoa results.

Meanwhile, oil rose ahead of this week’s World Energy Conference, with Brent crude up 0.49% to $52.19 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.26% to $49.94 per barrel at 1200 BST.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,055.58 0.16%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,975.72 -0.11%
techMARK (TASX) 3,562.32 0.20%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 792.50p 2.19%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,697.00p 1.92%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,180.00p 1.48%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,823.00p 1.39%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,192.00p 1.13%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,032.50p 1.13%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,246.00p 1.10%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,704.00p 1.03%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,249.00p 0.94%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,086.00p 0.85%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,430.00p -2.52%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,718.00p -2.00%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 144.80p -1.96%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 178.70p -1.76%
easyJet (EZJ) 880.50p -1.73%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 471.70p -1.67%
St James's Place (STJ) 948.50p -1.51%
Barclays (BARC) 171.05p -1.47%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,099.00p -1.43%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 218.90p -1.13%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 249.20p 4.18%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,474.00p 3.51%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 199.40p 3.32%
IP Group (IPO) 167.90p 3.01%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 137.30p 2.77%
SVG Capital (SVI) 687.00p 2.77%
William Hill (WMH) 302.50p 2.68%
SSP Group (SSPG) 324.40p 2.53%
Diploma (DPLM) 924.00p 2.33%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,174.00p 2.26%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,358.00p -3.95%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 217.10p -3.85%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 267.10p -3.22%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 240.10p -3.19%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 290.10p -2.91%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 230.70p -2.86%
Halfords Group (HFD) 321.00p -2.85%
SIG (SHI) 109.80p -2.57%
Redrow (RDW) 381.90p -2.45%
Senior (SNR) 224.40p -2.39%