London open: FTSE 100 plays catch up with peers after previous weak finish

UK’s FTSE 100 index is playing catch up with its European counterparts who outperformed it in the previous session.

On Tuesday, the London benchmark pared session losses to close lower while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 swung mildly higher.

In Wednesday’s session, the tables have turned in favour for the FTSE 100. By 0907 GMT, the index of 100 leading British blue-chips rose to 0.29% or 20 points to stand at 7031, near its all-time highs.

The London market was shrugging off a mixed Asia session while US stock futures are indicting a flattish open on Wall Street later.

In the FX markets, the euro and British pound are both beating the US dollar which fell after Tuesday’s zero inflation data from the world’s largest economy.

In commodities, oil prices are once again under the cosh while silver and gold prices are little changed, which provides little firm direction to miners and energy stocks.

“Commodity stocks have begun to reappear as a negative factor for the UK index this week, so on this sparse day for data these may play a factor in whether we see another record-breaking FTSE 100 performance,” said Connor Campbell, a market analyst with Spreadex.

Balfour Beatty shares gain despite poor numbers

Shares in UK construction firm Balfour Beatty rose 4.5% as it pledged to implement cost saving after reporting deep losses last year which forced it to suspend its dividend.

United Utilities Group rose 0.3% after the company said it expects a modest increase in underlying operating profit for current year earnings compared with the previous year.

Shares in TUI AG gained 2.8% after it confirmed the merged Anglo German travel colossus has sailed serenely past last year's figures and remained confident of delivering strong full year growth.

Profits at UK housebuilder Bellway jumped by more than a half to a record in the first six months of its financial year, prompting the company to hike its interim dividend by 56.3%. The stock rose 4%.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,252.53 +0.32%
FTSE 100 7,034.92 +0.22%
FTSE 250 17,622.88 +0.25%

FTSE 100 - Risers
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,221.00p +3.21%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 556.00p +2.58%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 160.50p +2.49%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 625.50p +1.96%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,364.00p +1.87%
Next (NXT) 7,310.00p +1.18%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 732.00p +1.10%
CRH (CRH) 1,850.00p +1.09%
Schroders (SDR) 3,376.00p +1.08%
Diageo (DGE) 1,958.50p +1.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,616.00p -1.51%
Barclays (BARC) 254.80p -1.41%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,968.00p -1.25%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,774.00p -1.00%
Whitbread (WTB) 5,295.00p -0.75%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,639.00p -0.71%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,582.50p -0.53%
Capita (CPI) 1,196.00p -0.50%
Kingfisher (KGF) 365.60p -0.44%
BP (BP.) 442.30p -0.42%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Hunting (HTG) 530.00p +6.00%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 241.50p +4.46%
Bellway (BWY) 2,090.00p +4.29%
Redrow (RDW) 358.60p +4.12%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,763.00p +3.34%
Polymetal International (POLY) 568.00p +2.53%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 1,001.00p +2.46%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 554.00p +2.12%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 653.00p +2.03%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 269.90p +1.85%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 270.00p -5.59%
Card Factory (CARD) 285.40p -4.23%
Serco Group (SRP) 178.10p -2.46%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 133.90p -1.69%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 308.50p -1.66%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 324.60p -1.64%
AA (AA.) 420.10p -1.64%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,065.00p -1.39%
SSP Group (SSPG) 300.40p -1.38%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 360.70p -1.18%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 733.50p +45.83%
Innovation Group (TIG) 29.25p +0.86%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 863.00p +0.82%
Anite (AIE) 89.00p +0.28%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 95.50p +0.26%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 12.25p -2.00%
Skyepharma (SKP) 316.75p -1.40%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 871.50p -1.19%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 13.25p -0.93%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 89.00p -0.84%
NCC Group (NCC) 201.50p -0.74%
Vectura Group (VEC) 149.75p -0.66%
RM (RM.) 142.25p -0.52%
Dialight (DIA) 771.50p -0.45%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 199.25p -0.38%