London open: Miners lead UK equities lower

UK equities were in the red on Thursday with mining stocks leading the decline as oil and copper prices dropped.

Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto were among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 after copper prices fell 0.66% to $217.55 per pound on the Comex and oil prices reversed the previous day’s gains.

Brent crude decreased 0.77% to $38.96 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate slid 1.2% to $37.85 per barrel at 0857 BST.

Meanwhile, traders will be kept busy on Thursday with a raft of economic data.

GfK’s UK consumer confidence index held at 0 in March, beating expectations for a reading of -1.

“Despite good economic headlines about low inflation, interest rates and prices in the shops, concerns about Brexit and the ongoing euro zone crisis appear to be hitting home," Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK said.

Still to come, UK gross domestic product at 0930 BST, Eurozone inflation at 1000 BST, US initial jobless claims at 1330 BST and Chicago purchasing managers’ index at 1445 BST.

In company news, TUI’s shares jumped after the travel group informed investors that overall demand and pricing for holidays has remained resilient in the first half of its financial year.

Carnival rallied a day after reporting first quarter sales and earnings that beat forecasts and raising its guidance for the full year.

AO World gained after saying that it enjoyed a better fourth quarter than it expected.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,164.74 -0.62%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,916.03 -0.35%
techMARK (TASX) 3,126.21 -0.21%

FTSE 100 - Risers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,073.00p 4.38%
Carnival (CCL) 3,748.00p 1.52%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 464.40p 1.13%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,670.00p 1.04%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 909.00p 0.66%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,980.00p 0.56%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,339.00p 0.53%
Informa (INF) 699.00p 0.36%
Hammerson (HMSO) 578.50p 0.35%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,233.00p 0.24%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Old Mutual (OML) 189.60p -3.61%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 766.10p -3.47%
Anglo American (AAL) 520.60p -2.82%
Glencore (GLEN) 147.50p -2.67%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,928.00p -2.28%
Pearson (PSON) 887.50p -1.99%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 462.95p -1.94%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 677.00p -1.88%
Aviva (AV.) 453.10p -1.50%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 220.40p -1.48%

FTSE 250 - Risers

AO World (AO.) 187.00p 8.22%
Serco Group (SRP) 101.30p 1.96%
Homeserve (HSV) 433.90p 1.95%
RPC Group (RPC) 774.50p 1.77%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 258.90p 1.61%
Lookers (LOOK) 164.80p 1.42%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 268.80p 1.36%
Highbridge Multi-Strategy Fund GBP Shares (HMSF) 185.00p 1.20%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,045.00p 1.16%
P2P Global Investments (P2P) 881.00p 1.15%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aldermore Group (ALD) 209.50p -4.77%
Interserve (IRV) 434.40p -4.59%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 194.70p -2.99%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 319.00p -2.83%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 436.00p -2.57%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 325.60p -2.43%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 228.60p -2.31%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,081.00p -2.26%
Allied Minds (ALM) 468.60p -2.25%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 406.90p -2.21%