London open: Stocks gain after jobs data; Ocado shines
London stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday as investors digested the latest UK jobs data, with Ocado the star performer after it won the first round of a patent infringement case.
At 0905 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,279.21, while sterling was down 0.1% against the dollar at 1.3207.
Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed unemployment fell as businesses continued to hire staff despite the end of the furlough programme. The number of people jobless and seeking work dropped by 127,000 to 1.423 million in the three months to the end of October. The jobless rate edged down to 4.2% from 4.3%.
The ONS said the number of people on payrolls exceeded pre-pandemic levels across the country and has continued to rise. Much of the recent growth has been among part-time workers, who were hit hard at the start of the crisis.
"With no sign of the end of the furlough scheme hitting the number of jobs, the total of employees on payroll continued to grow strongly in November," Darren Morgan, the ONS's economic statistics director, said. But he said the figures could include people recently made redundant who were working their notice.
The figures suggest the labour market remained strong despite the withdrawal of government support to cover the wages of workers temporarily told not to report for work. Some economists had feared a surge in unemployment as government support measures came to an end.
Instead many sectors are struggling to fill jobs. Lorry drivers, chefs and adult social care workers are all in short supply, partly because Brexit drove people who had filled the roles out of the UK.
The Bank of England will note the strong jobs data when its policymakers decide on Thursday whether to increase interest rates. Its calculations have been made more complex by the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the UK.
In equity markets, miners rallied as copper and aluminium prices rose, with BHP, Antofagasta and Anglo American all higher.
Ocado jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after the online supermarket group said it had won a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Norwegian robotics company AutoStore Holdings in the International Trade Commission. The news came alongside Ocado’s fourth-quarter results, which showed revenue fell 3.9% year-on-year, as it felt the impact of labour shortages.
On the downside, BT slumped after French telecoms giant Altice said it had increased its stake in the London-listed group to 18% and reiterated that it had no plans to stage a takeover under UK rules. Altice, owned by Patrick Drahi, bought a further 585.5m BT shares after building a 12% stake in June at a cost of £2.2bn - making it BT’s biggest shareholder.
Rentokil fell after agreeing to buy Terminex in a stock and cash deal that values the business at roughly $7.6bn.
BAE Systems and Qinetiq were both knocked lower by downgrades at JPMorgan, while Rotork was weaker after a downgrade to ‘add’ at Peel Hunt.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,279.21 0.66%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,768.33 0.53%
techMARK (TASX) 4,422.32 -0.08%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,661.00p 4.40%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,180.00p 2.54%
British Land Company (BLND) 513.00p 1.99%
Darktrace (DARK) 399.40p 1.94%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,412.00p 1.84%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 6,804.00p 1.76%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 2,197.00p 1.71%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.05p 1.59%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 424.40p 1.58%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 118.68p 1.49%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BT Group (BT.A) 166.35p -4.86%
BAE Systems (BA.) 537.00p -1.43%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 615.80p -1.38%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,273.00p -1.36%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,055.00p -1.13%
ITV (ITV) 108.05p -0.69%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,312.00p -0.63%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 6,194.00p -0.51%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 15,980.00p -0.44%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,723.00p -0.35%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Capita (CPI) 37.86p 2.99%
Carnival (CCL) 1,265.20p 2.88%
Hammerson (HMSO) 31.88p 2.77%
Energean (ENOG) 870.00p 2.65%
LXI Reit (LXI) 148.80p 2.62%
Greencore Group (CDI) (GNC) 131.20p 2.42%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,280.00p 2.40%
Ibstock (IBST) 191.60p 2.19%
AO World (AO.) 98.30p 2.13%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 271.20p 1.84%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 241.20p -3.52%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 19.75p -2.03%
Reach (RCH) 261.50p -1.88%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,756.00p -1.79%
Serco Group (SRP) 130.00p -0.99%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 972.00p -0.92%
Rotork (ROR) 349.40p -0.80%
Future (FUTR) 3,584.00p -0.61%
Bankers Inv Trust (BNKR) 121.20p -0.49%
Mitie Group (MTO) 60.70p -0.49%