London open: Stocks bounce off one-month low on Chinese stimulus hopes

UK stocks edged higher on Wednesday after a steep sell-off sent the FTSE 100 to its lowest levels in more than a month.

London’s benchmark index was up 0.3% at 6,549 early on, after settling at 6,529.47 the previous day.

Political uncertainty in Greece and concerns about lending in China hammered market sentiment on Tuesday, sending the FTSE 100 to its lowest finish since 5 November. The Athens and Shanghai equity indices closed down 11% and 5% respectively.

US stock indices closed slightly lower on Wall Street, but managed to erase earlier heavy losses before the end of trade.

“Santa Claus got lost somewhere between Greece and China yesterday but the US launched a late rescue mission to give markets a chance of a happy Xmas,” said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Concerns about China were still in focus on Wednesday after price data showed that inflation fell to a five-year low of 1.4% in November. This was down from 1.6% in October and surprised analysts who had expected no change.

Head of research Mike van Dulken from Accendo Markets said the figures were “adding to global growth worries but reviving hopes of more stimulus being forthcoming from the government/People’s Bank of China to help kick-start inflation/gross domestic product, offsetting yesterday’s fears of tighter Chinese lending rules crimping growth”.

Ashtead jumps after strong H1

Shares in Ashtead surged after the equipment-rental firm reported a big jump in first-half profits and lifted its full-year forecast. The company said that underlying pre-tax profit jumped by 33% to a record £265.5m in the six months to 31 October, and guided to full-year results “ahead of our previous expectations”.

Rolls-Royce gained after announcing a £1bn share buyback following the competition of the sale of its energy gas turbine and compressor business to Siemens.

Natural gas giant BG Group was higher after saying it is set to raise $5bn from the sale of a gas pipeline in Australia which is planned to go towards reducing debt and future growth investments.

Banking group Standard Chartered declined on the news that it will face a further three years of being under scrutiny from US authorities, after it was fined over £400m in 2012 for breaching American sanctions on Iran.

Travel stocks Easyjet, IAG and Carnival were making decent gains after falling the previous session.

Asset manager Aberdeen was lower after a Citigroup downgrade to ‘neutral’, while Shell’s shares were weighed down by a ratings cut by Deutsche Bank to ‘hold’.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,918.74 +0.42%
FTSE 100 6,548.97 +0.30%
FTSE 250 15,798.20 +0.53%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,145.00p +6.31%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 406.20p +4.07%
Carnival (CCL) 2,809.00p +3.31%
Fresnillo (FRES) 754.00p +2.86%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 882.00p +2.50%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,195.00p +1.86%
Capita (CPI) 1,051.00p +1.84%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,654.00p +1.78%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 948.50p +1.72%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 958.50p +1.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,386.00p -1.63%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 936.80p -0.79%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,658.00p -0.66%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,546.00p -0.58%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,073.00p -0.55%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 222.55p -0.47%
Next (NXT) 6,500.00p -0.46%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,838.00p -0.40%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 739.00p -0.40%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,146.00p -0.39%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Serco Group (SRP) 177.30p +7.91%
Afren (AFR) 40.59p +4.56%
Alent (ALNT) 364.60p +3.73%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 338.10p +3.36%
Beazley (BEZ) 277.10p +2.63%
Savills (SVS) 631.00p +2.60%
Supergroup (SGP) 850.00p +2.41%
Pace (PIC) 358.70p +1.99%
Betfair Group (BET) 1,493.00p +1.98%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 67.50p +1.89%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 386.10p -5.23%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,106.00p -2.21%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 86.70p -1.48%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.00p -1.23%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 65.40p -1.21%
Bellway (BWY) 1,902.00p -1.09%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,129.00p -1.05%
Dignity (DTY) 1,789.00p -0.89%
Synergy Health (SYR) 2,064.00p -0.86%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 385.70p -0.85%