London midday: Stocks flat ahead of holiday-shortened session Stateside

Stocks in London continued to trade near the unchanged mark midway through the session, amid exceedingly light trading volumes as US markets would only be open for a half day.

As of 1245 GMT the top flight index was edging higher by 0.01% to 6,830.14, despite a small downdraft in crude oil futures.

Front month Brent futures were losing 1.22% to $48.41 per barrel on the ICE.

"Eager US traders will be back at their screens for a shortened session Friday, although most will extend the holiday out to Monday, so expect another quiet day over here. That means more time to grab some of those Black Friday bargains, especially given the dearth of corporate news, although low volumes can sometimes trigger greater volatility.

"However, the index uptrend since the June low remains firmly intact, raising hopes that this rally has legs," said Lee Wild, Head of Equity Strategy at Interactive Investor.

The UK economy expanded at a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.5% in the third-quarter despite household expenditures having run slightly below some economists´ forecasts at 0.6% (Barclays: 0.8%), albeit with a quicker pace of fixed investment of 1.1% (Barclays: -0.5%), acting as an offset.

"Putting everything together, we now expect GDP to edge 0.7% next year (0.5% previously) and 1.5% in 2018 (unchanged). This remains overall cautious and in the lower range of the consensus (1.1% for next year +/- a standard deviation of 0.6pp) as we continue to believe that the actual triggering of Article 50 and the subsequent drop in sentiment will deliver some negativity in the first half of next year," Barclays Research said in a research report sent to clients.

Overseas, data released overnight showed Japanese consumer prices dropped for an eighth straight month in October, their longest such stretch since 2009-2011.

The cost of living in Japan, excluding fresh food, the main inflation gauge followed by the country´s central bank, fell by 0.4% month-on-month from one year ago, as expected.

As a result, the dollar/yen was on its backfoot early on Friday morning, slipping 0.27% to 113.05.

Meanwhile, and on the political front in Europe, French presidential candidates François Fillon and Alain Juppé went head to head in a television debate on Thursday night, with the former seen as the winner ahead of a vote on Sunday which will decide who will be the French right candidate in next year's election.

Pennon reports large jump in profits at half-year stage

In corporate news, Pennon continued to deliver a good performance in the first half of its financial year at both its water and waste businesses, with costs savings and self-help initiatives falling straight to the bottom line.

Revenues declined 0.5% to £685.5m despite which profits before tax jumped 19.9% to £128.1m, with the latter driven by costs savings at South West Water and growth at Viridor by its ERFs and self-help measures at its recycling arm. Earnings per share were up by 1.7% to 23.6p.

BHP Billiton and its Brazilian joint venture partner Vale said they have approved $181m to fund remediation and compensation programs at the Samarco iron ore project after a dam burst in a year ago.

The two companies will extend a £230m line of credit to Samarco. The funding will be offset against a $1.2bn provision made in June.
“Funds will be released to Samarco only as required and subject to the achievement of key milestones,” BHP said.

“The short-term facility allows BHP Billiton Brasil to preserve the value of its investment as options for restart continue to be assessed.”

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,829.87 0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,574.06 -0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,295.52 0.04%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Sky (SKY) 773.50p 2.11%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,280.50p 1.67%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,167.50p 1.52%
National Grid (NG.) 919.60p 1.07%
Diageo (DGE) 2,015.50p 0.98%
ITV (ITV) 168.40p 0.96%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,689.00p 0.83%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,403.50p 0.72%
Royal Mail (RMG) 457.30p 0.68%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,797.00p 0.61%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 58.87p -1.36%
BAE Systems (BA.) 601.50p -1.15%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 146.20p -1.15%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,964.00p -1.13%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 354.60p -1.03%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,232.00p -0.96%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,813.00p -0.95%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,047.00p -0.95%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,157.00p -0.88%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,714.00p -0.87%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Countrywide (CWD) 181.80p 7.26%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 363.30p 4.85%
Mitie Group (MTO) 214.90p 3.37%
Marshalls (MSLH) 305.70p 2.58%
RPC Group (RPC) 1,010.00p 2.38%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 628.00p 2.20%
Laird (LRD) 148.60p 1.99%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 735.50p 1.87%
Pennon Group (PNN) 823.00p 1.60%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,285.00p 1.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 157.30p -3.02%
Evraz (EVR) 252.20p -3.00%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 561.50p -2.01%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 228.50p -1.93%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 218.60p -1.75%
Aggreko (AGK) 792.50p -1.67%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 242.00p -1.67%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 205.70p -1.58%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,249.00p -1.58%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,575.00p -1.56%