London midday: Stocks slightly higher as Brexit worries send sterling lower

London stocks were slightly higher on Monday as worries about Brexit weakened the pound.

At 1156 GMT the FTSE 100 rose 0.07% to 7,215.33 points. The pound dropped 0.95% versus the dollar at £1.2170 after remarks by Prime Minister Theresa May over the weekend were seen to suggest that Britain will lose its access to the single market.

In an interview with Sky News, May said Britain could not hang on to "bits of EU membership".

“Be it Theresa May’s Sky News interview from the weekend specifically, or more general fears about the omnishambles that appears to be Britain’s ‘negotiating’ position with the EU, the impending Brexit continued to drive sterling lower this morning,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

On the economic data front, there are a lack of releases to drive markets on Monday.

Halifax revealed UK house prices rose a monthly 1.7% in December, beating forecasts of 0.3% and following the previous month’s 0.2% increase. In the three months to December prices jumped 6.5% year-on-year, compared to estimates for 5.8% growth and the previous month’s 6% gain.

In the eurozone, German industrial production rose an annualised 2.2% in November after a 1.6% increase in October. Economists had pencilled in a 1.9% rise.

Germany’s trade surplus rose to €22.6bn in November from €19.4bn, exceeding expectations of €20.3bn, boosted by 3.9% jump in exports.

Eurozone investor confidence rose more than anticipated in January. The Sentix investor confidence index edged up to 18.2 from 10 last month, ahead of forecasts for a reading of 12.8.

In company news, Lloyds Banking Group shares dropped as the UK government announced on Monday that its stake in the lender fell below 6%. UK Financial Investments Limited, the government vehicle set up to control taxpayers' stakes in the banks bailed out during the credit crunch in 2008, now holds a 5.95% stake in Lloyds, down from 43% at its peak.

Mining shares rallied, including Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton, as gold and silver prices rose.

William Hill slid after it warned that its a full-year operating profit for 2016 will be at the bottom end of its guided range due to unfavourable football and horseracing results in December. While it was good news for punters, the bookmaker said it meant gross win margins since mid-November were below expectations.

FTSE 250 oil and gas facility builder Petrofac pushed higher after it won a contract worth about $600m with Salalah LPG SFZCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Facilities Development Company, to undertake the engineering, procurement and construction of its Salalah LPG extraction project in the southern part of Oman.

Swiss iron ore miner Ferrexpo gained as it said it achieved record sales volumes in 2016, but produced lower pellets as it focused on reducing its debt.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes rose after the company announced that its chief executive, David Ritchie, will step down with immediate effect but will stay on until February to help with the transition process.

RSA Insurance was weaker after UBS downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’, Wm Morrison was in the red as Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut it to ‘underperform’ and Babcock fell after Deutsche Bank downgraded it to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.

Ashmore tumbled following a downbeat note by Barclays.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,208.33 -0.02%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,295.27 -0.25%
techMARK (TASX) 3,424.46 -0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 295.10p 2.31%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,151.00p 1.80%
Sage Group (SGE) 669.00p 1.75%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,152.00p 1.50%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,495.00p 1.49%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,585.00p 1.31%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,600.00p 1.30%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,633.00p 1.29%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,332.50p 1.18%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,330.50p 1.11%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 225.70p -2.88%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,030.00p -2.55%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,843.00p -2.49%
Capita (CPI) 503.50p -2.33%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 207.15p -1.99%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 921.50p -1.92%
British Land Company (BLND) 625.00p -1.81%
Intu Properties (INTU) 276.70p -1.74%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 245.50p -1.64%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 64.93p -1.47%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 139.30p 7.57%
Halma (HLMA) 930.50p 2.31%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 919.50p 2.28%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 485.70p 2.23%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 243.10p 2.14%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 123.30p 2.07%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 322.00p 2.06%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 382.10p 1.97%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 269.30p 1.97%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 333.90p 1.71%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ashmore Group (ASHM) 281.80p -5.85%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 545.50p -2.76%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 250.80p -2.75%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,096.00p -2.75%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,687.00p -2.64%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 264.00p -2.58%
Workspace Group (WKP) 778.00p -2.51%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 167.60p -2.39%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 228.00p -2.31%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 332.90p -2.23%