London open: Stocks climb ahead of ECB policy decision

London stocks climbed ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy announcement which is projected to reveal further stimulus measures.

ECB President Mario Draghi is widely expected to say the central bank will increase the pace of its asset purchases and cut its deposit rate.

Danske Bank expects the ECB to cut the deposit rate by 20 basis points along with an expansion to the quantitative easing to €75bn per month until December 2016. The ECB currently has asset purchases at €60bn per month, with an intended finish date of September 2016.

Meanwhile, data showed Chinese service activity growth slowed in November. Caixin’s purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.2 last month from 52 in October.

Eurozone services PMI was revised down unexpectedly to 54.2 in November from an earlier estimate of 54.9.

Services PMIs in the UK and the US are also due at 0930 GMT and 1445 GMT, respectively.

Thursday’s session also sees the release of US durable goods orders, US factory orders, US weekly jobless claims and Eurozone retail sales data.

Among corporate stocks, Ryanair flew higher after reporting a 21% rise in traffic in November to 7.71m.

Wood Group edged higher after the energy services group said it is buying Texas-based industrial construction and maintenance contractor Infinity Group for an initial $150m (£100m).

Barclays rose as it sold its Italian retail banking network to CheBanca!, a member of the Mediobanca Group.

Acacia Mining grew as it unveiled plans to cut a further 1,050 jobs as part of its restructuring programme.

Going the other way, mining stocks declined including Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta as metal prices fell on the back of the weak Chinese services PMI.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,424.58 0.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,562.30 0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 3,258.24 0.15%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Whitbread (WTB) 4,795.00p 2.09%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,927.00p 1.88%
Next (NXT) 8,130.00p 1.43%
Carnival (CCL) 3,600.00p 1.35%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,166.00p 1.30%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,963.00p 1.08%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 199.90p 0.96%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,341.00p 0.91%
ITV (ITV) 274.70p 0.81%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 152.20p 0.79%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 388.25p -2.34%
Old Mutual (OML) 204.20p -2.11%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 798.20p -1.99%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 504.50p -1.94%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,086.00p -1.81%
Glencore (GLEN) 92.20p -1.39%
Pearson (PSON) 812.00p -1.34%
Royal Mail (RMG) 480.10p -1.30%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,252.00p -1.23%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 308.10p -1.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 253.30p 2.47%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 428.20p 2.46%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 288.10p 2.13%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 176.30p 2.08%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 426.50p 1.91%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 320.00p 1.91%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,003.00p 1.83%
Just Eat (JE.) 457.20p 1.65%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 998.50p 1.63%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 237.70p 1.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Debenhams (DEB) 81.50p -4.57%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 318.00p -3.28%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,093.00p -3.27%
Britvic (BVIC) 703.00p -2.56%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 98.20p -2.48%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 235.30p -2.45%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 130.20p -2.11%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 161.70p -2.06%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 366.40p -2.03%
PayPoint (PAY) 988.50p -1.84%