London open: FTSE edges higher as commodities bounce back
Stocks were seeing slight gains in early trading on Monday as traders digested a panoply of political news out over the weekend amid a bounce in many key commodities as the US dollar took a step back.
As of 0824 GMT the FTSE 100 was higher by 0.29% or 18.67 points at 6,794.44.
Many investors eyes were on Prime Minister Theresa May as she unveils her new industrial strategy in a speech to the CBI later in the day.
That comes ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Wednesday, with Philip Hammond having said at the weekend that new government spending would be restrained due to "eye-wateringly" high levels of public debt.
Brent crude futures were up by 1.1% after Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that: "We will do everything that our partners from Opec are expecting. To freeze crude production is not an issue for us."
He was joined by Iran's oil minister, who said it was "highly probable" that the oil cartel would reach a consensus on production cuts at its end November meeting.
Nickel, copper and zinc futures were all higher as the US dollar spot index slipped 0.16% to 101.05.
The weekend saw another political upset as ex-French prime minister Francois Fillon (44.2%) beat Nicolas Sarkozy in the French Republican party's primary elections. Fillon is now set to face another ex-prime minister, Alain Juppe (28.5%), in a second run-off vote on 27 November.
Significantly, some recent polls had shown Fillon easily beating the National Front's Marine Le Pen in a hypothetical confrontation, but there is increasing uneasiness among some observers about the risk that Le Pen might yet upend the current political landscape.
No major economic data releases were scheduled for Monday, although investors were expected to be closely watching any possible hints about further quantitative easing from the European Central Bank when Mario Draghi speaks later in the day.
The ECB's chief is due to take part in discussions about the monetary authority's annual report at the European parliament at 1600 GMT.
Profit warnings
In corporate news, as well as reporting worse profits for the first half and cutting its dividend, facilities management group Mitie said the second half should see an improvement but the full year turnout will fall short of expectations.
The company has also taken the decision to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market and has placed this business under strategic review, with several big write-offs leading to a large first-half loss.
Essentra has cut also cut its profit guidance for the year due to delays in delivering projects, a “soft” Chinese market and the slow integration of an acquisition. The FTSE 250 plastics company now expects the calendar year will see a 7% like-for-like revenue decline in line with the first half of the year, with adjusted operating profit of £137-142m, which was revised down from £155-165m.
The third piece of disappointing profit news came from clothing retailer Bonmarche, which reported a drop in revenue and profit for the 26 weeks to 24 September, attributing the decline in part to the weather and the fact that competitor BHS went into administration.
More positively, GlaxoSmithKline has filed a US regulatory submission for a new three-drug inhaler treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema around 18 months earlier than originally planned.
Technical products supplier Diploma said full year pre-tax profits rose 4% to £54m on the back of a rise in revenue to £382.6m from £333.8m. The total dividend jumped 10% to 20p a share.
US science and technology developer Allied Minds has created a new subsidiary, Vatic Materials, which has agreed to license certain technologies from Pennsylvania State University. Vatic Materials will focus on developing materials and fabrication processes for transparent conducting thin films, such as on touch screens, lighting and photovoltaics, which will allow conductive surfaces to be potentially thinner and more cost effective.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,797.40 0.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,650.92 -0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 3,319.34 0.05%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 689.00p 3.45%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,950.00p 2.76%
Glencore (GLEN) 268.65p 2.58%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,116.00p 2.43%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,293.00p 2.33%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,315.00p 2.02%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,985.00p 1.74%
Polymetal International (POLY) 773.50p 1.44%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,011.50p 1.34%
Prudential (PRU) 1,534.00p 1.25%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 58.64p -1.35%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,899.00p -0.94%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 971.00p -0.87%
Royal Mail (RMG) 467.10p -0.76%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 653.00p -0.68%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,331.00p -0.65%
Diageo (DGE) 2,017.00p -0.59%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,775.00p -0.50%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 751.00p -0.46%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 204.20p -0.44%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 833.00p 3.48%
Hays (HAS) 142.00p 2.75%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 451.00p 2.45%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 461.70p 2.28%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 135.00p 2.12%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 246.30p 1.78%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 224.20p 1.77%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 2,874.00p 1.73%
Meggitt (MGGT) 456.00p 1.65%
Softcat (SCT) 311.00p 1.63%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Essentra (ESNT) 397.30p -19.62%
Mitie Group (MTO) 181.30p -13.67%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,533.00p -2.42%
Man Group (EMG) 123.40p -1.59%
Rightmove (RMV) 3,829.00p -1.54%
Foreign and Colonial Inv Trust (FRCL) 514.00p -1.34%
Laird (LRD) 145.80p -1.29%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 428.20p -1.15%
Just Eat (JE.) 567.00p -1.13%
Debenhams (DEB) 57.35p -1.12%