London open: Chinese data lifts Footsie in early trading, Greece in background

Shares were expected to start the session higher, tracking a record close overnight on Wall Street and on the heels of better than expected Chinese trade data.

As of 0829 GMT the FTSE 100 was up by 34.08 points or 0.47% to 7,263.85.

In parallel, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index finished the session 0.42% higher at 3,196.70.

Asia's largest economy recorded a foreign trade surplus of $51.4bn, a six-month high, with both exports and imports easily surpassing economists' forecasts for the month of January.

Chinese exports jumped 7.9% year-on-year (consensus: 3.2%) while imports rose by 16.7% (consensus: 10.0%).

"Stepping back, the big picture is that Chinese trade values have been picking up in recent months thanks to a revival in global manufacturing, the continued strength of China’s domestic economy and the rebound in global commodity prices. We expect this improvement to be sustained in the short-run, even as Chinese New Year distortions mean that headline trade growth is likely to fall back sharply in February," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics.

Commenting on US President Donald Trump's promise on Thursday of “something phenomenal on tax in the next two to three weeks”, which stoked stock market gains in the US, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK said: "It is hard to imagine that he will be able to promise anything tangible within a two to three week window, however whatever the realities investors appear happy to take him at his word, as US markets closed well above their previous peaks, while the US dollar index looks set to post its first positive week this year."

Acting as a backdrop, traders were keeping an eye on Greece with one referencing a Bloomberg report that the country's creditors, the European Commission, ECB, ESM and IMF might present it with a framework agreement to break the deadlock over its bailout programme.

On the economic calendar for Friday are UK industrial production figures for January at 0930 GMT, followed by US data on import prices and consumer sentiment at 1330 GMT and 1500 GMT, respectively.

Reckitt Benckiser bags Mead Johnson

Nurofen and Durex maker Reckitt Benckiser confirmed that it will buy US baby milk company Mead Johnson for up to $17.9bn, while it also said that revenue and earnings grew in 2016 despite challenging markets and products.

The FTSE 100 company is to buy Mead Johnson for $90 per share in cash, valuing Mead Johnson's equity at $16.6bn with the total value of the deal coming to $17.9bn including net debt.

Online food ordering and delivery service Just Eat announced on Friday that, due to urgent family matters, David Buttress had informed the board of his intention to step down from his role as chief executive officer.The FTSE 250 company said Buttress would continue to work full time in the company until the end of the first quarter, at which time John Hughes - who has been chairman of the board for almost six years - will assume the role of executive chairman.

Pub group Greene King reported strong trading over the Christmas period on Friday as it sounded an upbeat note on its outlook. In the 40 weeks to 4 February, like-for-like sales grew 1.1%. Excluding Fayre & Square, LFL sales were up 1.6% over the period.

Over the last 16 weeks, the company said it had seen strong Christmas trading, alongside the usual quieter months of November and January.

Advent International has completed the sale of its remaining interest in DFS Furniture held through Advent Diamond.

The disposal was conducted through a placing of 25,661,359 existing ordinary shares in the company to institutional investors by means of an accelerated bookbuild at a price of 228p per share, raising gross proceeds of £58.5m.

Electrocomponents' revenue grew as it implemented initiatives to stabilise its gross margin and reduce costs.

For the four months ended 31 January, the electronics distributor reported that sales increased 6% when compared to the previous year, with growth seen across all its main geographical regions.

In Europe revenue grew 4%, with growth of 7% and 12% in Asia Pacific and North America, respectively.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,270.45 0.57%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,658.23 0.16%
techMARK (TASX) 3,346.81 0.40%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 1,339.00p 3.36%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,480.00p 2.90%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 847.50p 2.42%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,369.50p 2.35%
Glencore (GLEN) 319.20p 2.24%
CRH (CRH) 2,788.00p 1.75%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 368.70p 1.51%
Sage Group (SGE) 646.50p 1.49%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,818.00p 1.39%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,636.00p 1.33%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,310.00p -1.48%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,515.00p -0.92%
BT Group (BT.A) 306.20p -0.68%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,190.00p -0.67%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 242.40p -0.66%
SSE (SSE) 1,537.00p -0.45%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 310.00p -0.42%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,947.00p -0.41%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,042.00p -0.38%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,871.00p -0.37%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Elementis (ELM) 299.10p 8.68%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 347.20p 3.64%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 541.50p 3.14%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 159.00p 2.65%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,070.00p 2.49%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 454.40p 2.18%
Evraz (EVR) 246.40p 2.03%
Redefine International (RDI) 38.53p 1.45%
Hunting (HTG) 576.50p 1.41%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 257.80p 1.30%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Just Eat (JE.) 522.50p -5.77%
Senior (SNR) 189.70p -4.24%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 257.60p -3.01%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 445.30p -2.22%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 495.90p -1.61%
Greene King (GNK) 690.50p -1.50%
Polymetal International (POLY) 966.50p -1.18%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 358.50p -1.13%
Assura (AGR) 56.45p -0.96%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 422.00p -0.92%