London midday: Stocks rise as oil prices edge higher

London stocks rose on Monday as oil prices gained and investors sifted though corporate news and Japanese economic growth data.

“Snooze. Monday morning has so far failed to produce anything of note, the European indices flat out ignoring Japan’s GDP frailty from the overnight session,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

“Sitting pretty, and unchanged, at 6920 the FTSE has done zilch, zero and bupkis this morning, steady gains for its oil stocks (thanks to Brent Crude crawling back across the $47 per barrel mark) helping to counter a series of losses in its mining sector.”

Among the few economic releases on Monday, Japanese data released earlier showed the nation’s economy hardly grew in the April to June quarter, weighed by exports and business investment.

The economy grew 0.2% on an annualised basis, down from 2% in the first three months of the year. Meanwhile, private consumption nudged up just 0.2%, down from 0.6% growth the quarter before.

“The BoJ has found few things to cheer about in recent years, and with today’s poor growth data coupled with yen fuelled disinflation, the BoJ look likely to ease once more as a result,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.

In the UK, Rightmove data showed asking prices for homes in England and Wales fell 1.2% on the month in August, the biggest fall since November, following a 0.9% decline in July. On the year, prices rose 4.1% in August but it marked a slowdown from July’s 4.5% year-on-year growth.

Rightmove blamed Brexit worries and a quieter summer holiday period for the monthly decline.

In the US, Empire manufacturing is due at 1330 BST, while the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 BST.

Meanwhile, oil prices gained on hopes of action by OPEC to stabilise the market ahead of a meeting next month. Brent crude rose 0.4% to $47.17 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 0.5% to $44.72 per barrel at 1131 BST.

Shares in oil producers, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, advanced on the increase in crude prices.

Housebuilders declined following Rightmove’s lacklustre data with Berkeley Group and Barratt Developments among the fallers.

Bovis Homes was also sharply lower despite posting growth in profit and revenue for the first half, as it said it was too early to gauge the impact of Brexit.

Countryside Properties slumped after J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ as part of a sector-wide review.

William Hill was weaker after rejecting an improved cash-and-shares offer from Rank Group and 888 Holdings received over the weekend.

FTSE 250 security firm G4S rallied after saying that Tim Weller will succeed Himanshu Raja as chief financial officer of G4S after Raja retires from the board and steps down from the role on 1 October. Weller will join the company from oilfield services group Petrofac, where he held the same role.

Entertainment One surged amid reports that ITV was planning to raise its bid for the company as it emerged that private equity firm KKR is considering making an offer.

Software firm Sage was under pressure after saying an internal login had been used to gain unauthorised access to some of its British customers’ data.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,931.06 0.22%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,896.09 -0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 3,538.98 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Capita (CPI) 1,021.00p 1.79%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,943.50p 1.28%
Anglo American (AAL) 866.70p 1.14%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,268.00p 1.02%
DCC (DCC) 7,040.00p 1.00%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,022.00p 1.00%
WPP (WPP) 1,794.00p 0.96%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,705.00p 0.83%
BP (BP.) 436.20p 0.81%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 214.70p 0.80%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Glencore (GLEN) 190.25p -3.01%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 192.40p -1.99%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,493.00p -1.81%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,025.50p -1.39%
Sage Group (SGE) 730.00p -1.35%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,605.00p -1.23%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 435.00p -1.20%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 350.30p -1.18%
Tesco (TSCO) 158.65p -1.15%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 790.50p -1.13%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Clarkson (CKN) 2,185.00p 7.37%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 249.80p 4.61%
Rank Group (RNK) 214.90p 3.27%
IP Group (IPO) 183.70p 3.03%
AO World (AO.) 157.30p 2.88%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,263.00p 2.52%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 410.10p 2.19%
Genus (GNS) 1,819.00p 2.08%
CYBG (CYBG) 271.10p 2.03%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 178.40p 2.00%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 807.50p -3.41%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 506.00p -3.25%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 829.00p -3.21%
Ascential (ASCL) 242.60p -2.96%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 184.90p -2.89%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 236.30p -2.68%
William Hill (WMH) 325.20p -2.55%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 301.30p -2.43%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 426.70p -2.38%
Redrow (RDW) 338.00p -2.20%