London open: Miners pace the decline; StanChart, BP in focus

London stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday, with miners pacing the decline as investors mulled results from the likes of BP and Standard Chartered.

At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,260.83.

Victoria Scholar, head of Investment at Interactive Investor, said: "European markets have kicked off Tuesday’s session on a negative note driven by declines in basic resources as iron ore extends losses to hit a 16-month low.

"The FTSE 100 is hovering below key resistance at 7,300 with the next key support at 7,250. Investors are weighing up the largely resilient results coming out of European earnings season against a busy week for central banks with the potential for hawkish shifts from the Fed and the Bank of England as soon as this week."

In equity markets, miners were under the cosh as copper and iron ore prices declined, with BHP, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Glencore all down.

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment tumbled after it posted a jump in third-quarter revenue but downgraded its earnings guidance for the year due to unfavourable sports results in October and its Netherlands exit.

Standard Chartered was also weaker despite saying that underlying pre-tax profit rose 44% to $1.08bn in the third quarter as income rose and bad debts fell sharply. The bank said it expected annual income to be similar to the year before on a constant currency basis but to be lower in the fourth quarter than in the third.

BP was in the red even as the energy giant said surging oil and gas prices had helped it to report better-than-expected third quarter profits as demand for its products soared on the back of economic recovery from the Covid pandemic.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,260.83 -0.38%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,178.79 -0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,578.96 -0.31%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,832.50p 1.10%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,970.00p 1.02%
Royal Mail (RMG) 433.30p 0.86%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,215.00p 0.84%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,288.50p 0.66%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 598.60p 0.64%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,106.50p 0.64%
Ferguson (FERG) 11,225.00p 0.58%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,226.00p 0.58%
Rightmove (RMV) 697.60p 0.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,160.00p -6.23%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 476.50p -5.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,719.50p -3.31%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,863.80p -3.13%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,443.00p -2.58%
Glencore (GLEN) 356.75p -2.50%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,405.50p -2.29%
Pearson (PSON) 603.40p -2.20%
Evraz (EVR) 611.80p -1.86%
Fresnillo (FRES) 873.60p -1.33%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 202.00p 2.54%
Redde Northgate (REDD) 406.50p 2.14%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 215.00p 1.90%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 347.80p 1.46%
Greggs (GRG) 3,096.00p 1.44%
Chemring Group (CHG) 293.50p 1.38%
Indivior (INDV) 250.00p 1.38%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 5,490.00p 1.29%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 359.50p 1.27%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 656.20p 1.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 288.60p -7.56%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 134.80p -4.53%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 192.00p -4.38%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,415.00p -3.74%
888 Holdings (888) 371.20p -2.67%
AO World (AO.) 137.90p -2.27%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 114.60p -1.88%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 133.00p -1.77%
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 154.96p -1.40%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 358.60p -1.32%