London open: Oil patch on fire, Thomas Cook flies

Stocks were moving slightly higher as investors digested Washington's decision overnight not to renew its Iran sanctions waivers for a spate of crude oil importers, including China and India.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration's decision to push Tehran's oil exports to zero.

Commenting on that decision, analysts at UniCredit Research said it was unlikely that Iranian exports would really drop to zero for a multitude of reasons, not least being the quality of Iranian crude.

"The decision was probably motivated by the full publication of the Mueller Report and by the intention to put pressure on China on the trade negotiations front, as Beijing is heavily affected by the decision," they said in a research note sent to clients.

Against that backdrop, as of 0816 BST the FTSE 100 was up by 15.27 points or 0.21% to 7,475.49, with shares of BP and Shell topping the leaderboard with gains of roughly 2% for each one.

In parallel meanwhile, front month Brent crude oil futures were adding 0.58% to $74.47 a barrel on the ICE.

According to Bloomberg data, at 613,000 barrels a day, China was the largest buyer of Iranian crude in March, followed by South Korea with 387,000 b/d, Japan at 108,000 b/d and Turkey with 97,000 b/d.

Some reports were indicating that Beijing and New Delhi were still trying to negotiate extensions to their waivers, even as Tehran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz.

In the background meanwhile, the market spotlight was again on Westminster, with MPs returning from the Easter recess amid news that Tory lawmakers were planning to change their own party's rules to make it easier to force her out.

According to The Daily Telegraph, backbenchers had already chosen 12 June as the date by which she will be forced to comply.

Despite that, the pound was edging up by 0.14% versus the euro to 1.1548.

For later in the day, the focus will be on a steady stream of quarterly results from US corporate heavyweights, including Coca Cola, Procter&Gamble and after the close of markets in the States, E-Bay.

New home sales figures are also due out in the US, at 1500 BST.

Thomas Cook jumps on buyout speculation, Barclays in the spotlight

Shares of Thomas Cook were flying after Sky News reported at the weekend that several potential bidders had expressed interest in its tour operating unit. Among those is Chinese outfit Fosun, with whom it runs a joint-venture in that Asian country, with some parties reportedly said to be weighing bids for the entire outfit.

Barclays is planning cuts in pay and bonuses at its investment bank as it prepares to face-off against corporate raider Edward Bramson, the FT reported. The lender is due to update shareholders on first quarter trading on Thursday.

Ferrexpo reported a 6.4% improvement in revenue in its full-year results on Tuesday, to $1.27bn, after total pellet production rose 1.6% to 10,607 kilotonnes, but sales volumes fell 2.3% to 10,227 kilotonnes. The FTSE 250 company said its underlying EBITDA for the year ended 31 December was $503m, down 8.7% year-on-year, with its diluted earnings per share sliding 15.2% to 56.7 US cents.

British Land said it was selling 12 superstores from its joint venture with Sainsbury's for £429m, representing a net initial yield of 5.0%, to Realty Income Corporation. British Land's share of the proceeds will be £193.5m representing a “modest” premium to September 2018 book value.

Roche announced the launch of the new ‘VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail’ assay on Tuesday, for the detection of the HER2 biomarker in breast and gastric cancer. The Swiss pharmaceuticals giant described HER2 - human epidermal growth factor receptor two - as an important biomarker found in breast and gastric cancers. It said its detection and inhibition could help to more effectively manage those aggressive cancers, with the VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay designed to be completed within the same day, providing clinicians the ability to get results back quicker than the most common methods of confirmatory testing for HER2.

Travis Perkins is an early gainer following double upgrades from a couple of brokers.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,475.09 0.20%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,822.17 -0.07%
techMARK (TASX) 3,554.22 0.03%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,514.50p 1.95%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,531.00p 1.89%
BP (BP.) 576.60p 1.57%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,682.89p 1.53%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,549.00p 1.23%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,869.00p 0.98%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 556.60p 0.91%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,867.00p 0.89%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 229.60p 0.83%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 377.80p 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 752.00p -3.39%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,188.30p -2.52%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 992.40p -1.65%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 548.60p -1.54%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,703.00p -1.39%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,396.00p -1.16%
Carnival (CCL) 3,992.00p -1.09%
CRH (CRH) 2,593.00p -1.03%
3i Group (III) 1,069.00p -1.02%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 352.99p -0.93%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Premier Oil (PMO) 106.10p 4.53%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 252.30p 4.26%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 524.20p 3.80%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,470.00p 3.05%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 21.16p 3.02%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 481.31p 2.98%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 542.00p 2.07%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 169.00p 1.99%
Sabre Insurance Group (SBRE) 290.79p 1.67%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 126.88p 1.50%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 310.00p -4.91%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 249.08p -3.08%
Kier Group (KIE) 350.60p -1.96%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 357.80p -1.51%
Intu Properties (INTU) 100.20p -1.47%
FirstGroup (FGP) 100.70p -1.47%
IWG (IWG) 331.10p -1.34%
Elementis (ELM) 175.90p -1.29%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,424.27p -1.26%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 474.20p -1.25%