London open: Stocks edge up as silver prices rally

London stocks edged up in early trade on Monday, with precious metals miners on the front foot as silver prices surged.

At 0855 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 6,438.48.

In equity markets, precious metals miner Fresnillo surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as silver prices shot higher, targeted by Reddit retail traders. Polymetal, Hochschild and Centamin also shone.

FXTM market strategist Hussein Sayed said: "Following successful attacks against short-sellers on game retailer GameStop and other heavily-shorted stocks like AMC, Nokia, Blackberry and Bed Bath & Beyond, retail traders' next target has become silver.

“iShare Silver Trust, the world’s largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, recorded a one-day inflow of almost $1 billion on Friday and is likely to see more inflows today as more traders become familiar with the trade.

"Miners of silver were the biggest beneficiaries of the latest Reddit’s users’ recommendation, who are betting this time against large banks. However, the targeting of Wall Street may be misplaced as most big banks hold short positions in the silver futures markets to hedge their physical holdings. If their short positions lose value, their physical holdings gain, hence from a price perspective they are neutral."

Miners and housebuilders were on the rise, with Barratt, Persimmon, Anglo American and Glencore all firmer.

Elsewhere, JD Sports Fashion jumped after agreeing to buy DTLR Villa, a US sports retailer, for $495m (£360m), of which about $100m will be used to repay debt.

Outside the FTSE 350, online fashion retailer Asos gained after buying four brands from the collapsed Arcadia group for £330m. The deal includes Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands to Asos, but not physical stores, Deloitte said in a statement. Asos will pay around £295m for the brands, goodwill and stock on hand, and also take on liabilities for forward committed stock orders.

On the downside, investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown fell despite lifting its interim dividend and reporting a 10% rise in first-half profit.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,438.48 0.48%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,334.12 0.52%
techMARK (TASX) 4,080.11 0.50%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,164.50p 17.91%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,676.00p 6.01%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 790.20p 5.78%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 659.20p 3.19%
Glencore (GLEN) 253.15p 2.74%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,620.00p 2.70%
Kingfisher (KGF) 285.10p 2.66%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,172.00p 2.60%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,294.00p 2.51%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.10p 2.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,255.40p -1.32%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,320.40p -1.32%
Diageo (DGE) 2,915.00p -1.15%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 378.55p -1.10%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,697.00p -0.67%
Prudential (PRU) 1,165.00p -0.64%
Pearson (PSON) 808.60p -0.49%
BP (BP.) 270.40p -0.41%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,695.00p -0.29%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,354.00p -0.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 255.20p 10.96%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 120.00p 4.62%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,690.00p 2.92%
Trainline (TRN) 419.40p 2.74%
Bellway (BWY) 2,830.00p 2.72%
Future (FUTR) 1,784.00p 2.65%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 122.00p 2.31%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,182.00p 2.25%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 440.60p 2.18%
IP Group (IPO) 97.00p 2.11%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,310.00p -3.55%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 431.80p -2.99%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 343.40p -2.72%
Hammerson (HMSO) 22.62p -2.33%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 92.90p -2.11%
Rank Group (RNK) 122.60p -1.92%
SSP Group (SSPG) 284.80p -1.73%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,180.00p -1.58%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,998.50p -1.55%
C&C Group (CCR) 228.00p -1.30%