London open: Stocks edge up on vaccine optimism; Glencore rallies

London stocks edged higher on Tuesday as vaccine optimism and recovery hopes underpinned sentiment.

The FTSE 100 was 0.3% firmer at 6,775.66, while sterling was up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.3926.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "If lacking the same hutzpah as on Monday, the European markets at the very least defended the week’s peaks on Tuesday.

"The FTSE was the rare index to push forth after the bell; but, then again, its highs are recent not record. It was a fairly predictable start from the FTSE, following up Monday’s blowout gains - spurred on by the UK speedily reaching a key milestone in the race to vaccinate the nation -with a timid, contemplative open."

In equity markets, miner Glencore rallied after its full-year adjusted earnings beat expectations and it reinstated its dividend.

Asia-focused banks HSBC and Standard Chartered were also on the front foot.

Serco surged after the outsourcer agreed to buy Whitney, Bradley & Brown, a provider of advisory, engineering and technical services to the US military, for $295m.

Rotork was also in the black after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Jefferies.

Travel company TUI and cinema chain Cineworld were high risers, likely boosted by hopes that vaccines will allow a return to more normal life by spring.

On the downside, Australian mining giant BHP ticked lower even as it declared a record interim dividend after reporting a rise in profits driven by Chinese demand for iron ore.

Homeware retailer Dunelm slumped after deputy chairman Will Adderley sold 15m shares in the company - a stake of about 7.4% - at a 9% discount to the closing share price on Monday.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,775.66 0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,480.14 0.29%
techMARK (TASX) 4,179.29 0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 423.20p 3.11%
Glencore (GLEN) 289.50p 2.55%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 488.90p 1.62%
BP (BP.) 282.55p 1.31%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 97.30p 1.27%
Prudential (PRU) 1,391.50p 1.24%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,700.00p 0.99%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,985.00p 0.88%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 639.90p 0.84%
Tesco (TSCO) 246.00p 0.68%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 763.00p -1.85%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,377.00p -1.69%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,472.50p -1.57%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,803.00p -1.23%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 166.70p -1.07%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,076.00p -0.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,015.50p -0.83%
Kingfisher (KGF) 277.40p -0.79%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 7,778.00p -0.77%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,364.00p -0.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Serco Group (SRP) 127.20p 6.27%
Rotork (ROR) 365.60p 5.24%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 359.30p 3.84%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 85.76p 3.68%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 808.00p 3.52%
Elementis (ELM) 128.80p 2.30%
Rank Group (RNK) 134.60p 2.28%
Hammerson (HMSO) 23.15p 2.21%
Avon Rubber (AVON) 3,200.00p 2.07%
Henderson Smaller Companies Inv Trust (HSL) 1,108.00p 2.03%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,277.00p -9.30%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 337.00p -4.94%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 210.00p -1.41%
Ninety One (N91) 235.00p -1.26%
Indivior (INDV) 142.30p -1.18%
Ibstock (IBST) 226.20p -1.14%
Trainline (TRN) 488.20p -1.05%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 330.80p -1.02%
Vistry Group (VTY) 893.00p -1.00%
Investec (INVP) 218.60p -0.91%