London open: Miners drag equities into the red

London stocks declined on Monday, reflecting a drop in mining shares and worries over the health of the UK high street.

BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Glencore were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 in morning trade as copper prices dropped.

Oil prices also decreased with Brent crude down 0.71% to $44.79 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 0.90% to $43.34 per barrel at 0853 BST.

Meanwhile, news that retailer BHS is to file for administration sparked concerns about the state of the UK high street. The announcement came after negotiations with Sports Direct to sell some of BHS's 164 stores collapsed over the weekend.

“Whilst British Home Stores is a privately owned company, its collapse continues to paint an unflattering picture of the UK retail landscape (especially hot on the heels of the string of the dismal sales figures seen in the sector since 2016 began), feeding into investors unease this morning,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

Elsewhere, German business confidence unexpectedly fell in April, according to IFO’s latest survey. The sentiment index dropped to 106.6 this month from 106.7 in March, missing forecasts for a reading of 107.1.

Still to come, the CBI industrial trends survey is due at 1100 BST, US new home sales data will be released at 1500 BST and the Dallas Fed manufacturing activity index will be published at 1530 BST.

In company news, Ted Baker gained after Jefferies upgraded the luxury fashion retailer to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.

Housebuilders continued to rally, including Taylor Wimpey, Berkley Group and Persimmon after positive notes from Liberum and Canaccord Genuity on Friday.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,279.18 -0.50%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,892.58 0.13%
techMARK (TASX) 3,119.24 -0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 918.50p 3.20%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,639.50p 1.90%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,925.00p 1.60%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 177.90p 1.37%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,933.00p 1.35%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,916.00p 1.27%
ITV (ITV) 229.20p 1.15%
CRH (CRH) 1,994.00p 1.06%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,320.00p 0.97%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,435.00p 0.72%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BHP Billiton (BLT) 947.70p -4.04%
Anglo American (AAL) 708.00p -3.38%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,260.00p -3.19%
Glencore (GLEN) 157.95p -2.38%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 468.50p -2.36%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 545.50p -1.92%
BP (BP.) 361.60p -1.82%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,781.50p -1.79%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,794.00p -1.78%
Standard Life (SL.) 333.30p -1.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ted Baker (TED) 2,519.00p 4.26%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 230.60p 2.95%
Drax Group (DRX) 313.10p 1.92%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 274.20p 1.56%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 534.00p 1.52%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 247.10p 1.52%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 909.00p 1.51%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 461.60p 1.45%
AO World (AO.) 177.00p 1.43%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 353.10p 1.38%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 616.00p -2.69%
Investec (INVP) 531.00p -1.76%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,194.00p -1.57%
Evraz (EVR) 138.40p -1.42%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 98.20p -1.41%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 138.50p -1.35%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 488.10p -1.33%
Pendragon (PDG) 34.18p -1.33%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 82.00p -1.32%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,100.00p -1.17%