London open: FTSE nudges up as miners, energy shares gain

London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Wednesday, outperforming their European peers thanks to a solid showing in the mining and energy sectors.

At 0855 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,550.95, having gained on Tuesday after Russia said it was scaling back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "We await to see what really happens on the ground. Western intelligence is sceptical and could be repositioning of units during a natural lull, caused by stiff defence...making a virtue out of a necessity.

"After a strong run over the last two sessions, European equities are softer in early trading this morning. Losses are under 1% at the open, after the CAC rose 3% and the DAX advanced 2.8% on Tuesday. The FTSE tried to stay flat with and oil & gas, basic resources the top sectors in European trade."

In equity markets, miners rose as metals prices pushed higher, with Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto all up.

Oil giants Shell and BP also gushed higher amid firmer oil prices.

Elsewhere, gold miner Polymetal surged to the top of the FTSE 250 as it maintained full-year production guidance and said operations in Russia and Kazakhstan continue undisrupted.

Russia-focussed gold producer Petropavlovsk was also up after saying it was in the early stages of discussions with advisers and Gazprombank relating to a potential restructuring of the group's debt.

On the downside, credit-checking firm Experian was under the cosh after a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at Citi, while Lloyds fell after a downgrade to ‘underperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,550.95 0.18%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,354.96 -0.64%
techMARK (TASX) 4,363.74 -0.47%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 3,917.50p 3.06%
Shell (SHEL) 2,074.00p 2.57%
Glencore (GLEN) 493.00p 2.57%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,989.00p 2.46%
Fresnillo (FRES) 728.60p 1.87%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,895.00p 1.61%
BP (BP.) 377.15p 1.56%
Royal Mail (RMG) 359.10p 1.07%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,244.50p 0.79%
Prudential (PRU) 1,141.50p 0.75%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Experian (EXPN) 2,985.00p -2.71%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.82p -2.37%
WPP (WPP) 1,049.00p -2.28%
Rightmove (RMV) 645.40p -2.09%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,736.00p -2.09%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 8,992.00p -2.01%
Kingfisher (KGF) 269.10p -2.00%
Halma (HLMA) 2,488.00p -1.78%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,146.00p -1.76%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,040.50p -1.75%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Polymetal International (POLY) 378.80p 11.74%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 52.32p 2.19%
Energean (ENOG) 1,129.00p 2.17%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 127.80p 1.91%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 471.00p 1.40%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 219.60p 1.39%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 267.00p 1.33%
Hammerson (HMSO) 34.83p 1.22%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 291.00p 1.22%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,910.00p 1.22%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 148.10p -4.94%
Trainline (TRN) 205.40p -4.20%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 342.40p -3.98%
Currys (CURY) 96.50p -3.79%
Spectris (SXS) 2,617.00p -3.04%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 244.80p -2.86%
Bodycote (BOY) 666.00p -2.77%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 385.40p -2.68%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 199.60p -2.63%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 118.20p -2.48%