London open: Stocks fall but Rightmove surges on potential takeover

London stocks fell in early trade on Monday at the start of what is expected to be a fairly quiet session, with US markets closed for the Labor Day holiday.

At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,353.43.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The UK’s premier index drifted in early trade, despite the prospect of more M&A activity both underpinning share price performances while also confirming the fact that international institutions have been casting the slide rule over UK corporates.

"Given cheap valuations on a historical basis as well as in comparison to many developed markets elsewhere, the UK has inevitably become something of a hunting ground. The latest potential target in the premier index is Rightmove, after comments from Australia’s REA Group that it was considering making an offer having identified a ‘transformational opportunity’ in combining the two online property websites."

Rightmove surged more than 20% after the Australian real estate advertising company confirmed speculation that it was considering a possible cash and share offer for UK property platform.

REA, majority owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, said in a statement that it sees "clear similarities" between the two groups, but has not yet approached, nor had any discussions with, Rightmove regarding any potential offer.

Barratt Developments gained after UBS upgraded shares of the housebuilder to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted the price target to 630p from 610p.

Bodycote was also higher after Berenberg initiated coverage on the stock at 'buy'.

IT provider Kainos tumbled after saying it expects full-year revenues to be below market forecasts due to the tougher trading environment in services as clients delayed decisions on projects, but adjusted pre-tax profit would be in line with consensus estimates.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,353.43 -0.28%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,990.35 -0.46%
techMARK (TASX) 4,921.04 -0.37%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rightmove (RMV) 669.60p 20.52%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,848.00p 1.54%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 859.80p 1.03%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 512.00p 0.95%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 294.60p 0.75%
BT Group (BT.A) 139.90p 0.65%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,193.00p 0.60%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,758.00p 0.59%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,850.00p 0.49%
Sage Group (SGE) 1,014.00p 0.30%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Kingfisher (KGF) 277.10p -2.50%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,816.00p -2.00%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,524.00p -1.87%
Entain (ENT) 634.20p -1.83%
Diploma (DPLM) 4,384.00p -1.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,171.50p -1.70%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,336.00p -1.69%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,038.00p -1.68%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,691.00p -1.66%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 135.75p -1.59%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 571.00p 2.88%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 80.90p 2.15%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 353.50p 2.02%
Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 281.50p 1.62%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 289.00p 1.58%
Twentyfour Income Fund Limited Ord Red (TFIF) 105.60p 1.54%
Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 87.40p 1.16%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,190.00p 1.10%
JPMorgan American Inv Trust (JAM) 985.00p 0.82%
Bodycote (BOY) 666.00p 0.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Kainos Group (KNOS) 963.00p -12.93%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 405.00p -2.76%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 144.70p -2.56%
Carnival (CCL) 1,110.00p -2.20%
IP Group (IPO) 40.95p -2.03%
Future (FUTR) 1,059.00p -1.94%
Alpha Group International (ALPH) 2,530.00p -1.94%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 70.60p -1.88%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,310.00p -1.80%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,255.00p -1.74%