London open: Stocks in the red as oil giants hit by falling prices

London stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday, with oil giants under the cosh as oil prices retreated.

At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,236.04.

Investors were mulling industry data showing that UK retail sales inched higher in May, staging a minor rebound after a disappointing performance in April.

According to figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, total sales were up 0.7% year-on-year last month, following a 4.0% annual decline in April, as a 3.6% increase in food sales managed to outweigh a 2.4% decline in non-food.

While non-food sales were down, the BRC noted that the two bank holidays in May helped drive growth in purchases of DIY and gardening equipment, as well as clothing, while computing sales reached their highest levels since the pandemic.

The overall growth rate was higher than the three-month average of 0.3%, but still came in below the 12-month average gain of 2.0%.

"Despite a strong bank holiday weekend for retailers, minimal improvement to weather across most of May meant only a modest rebound in retail sales last month," said the BRC's chief executive Helen Dickinson.

"Retailers remain optimistic that major events such as the Euros and the Olympics will bolster consumer confidence this summer," she said.

In equity markets, BP and Shell both gushed lower as oil prices fell. Darren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Brent crude is down about another 0.5% today, to under $78 per barrel following prices cratering to four-month lows yesterday, after Opec+ nations revealed they would gradually phase out production cuts after September."

British American Tobacco lost ground even as it said it remains on track to hit guidance this year after first-half trading met expectations.

Chemring was weaker after it hailed a record interim order book but posted a drop in underlying profit as its Tennessee countermeasures business was hit by adverse weather conditions.

On the upside, budget carrier Wizz Air nudged higher as it said May passenger numbers rose 2.1% although capacity was still impacted by the grounding of 45 Airbus aircraft due to issues with their Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. The airline carried 5.1 million passengers with a load factor of 91%, up from 90% from 2023. Capacity rose 1.2% year on year to 5.6 million seats.

Tritax Eurobox rallied after Brookfield Asset Management said it was in the early stages of assessing a possible cash offer for the company. Tritax confirmed in a statement late on Monday that it had not received a proposal from Brookfield.

Media group Future was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Berenberg, which hiked its price target to 1,310p from 850p following "positive" first-half results.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,236.04 -0.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,791.55 -0.52%
techMARK (TASX) 4,830.40 -0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Entain (ENT) 714.60p 1.30%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,541.00p 1.20%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,970.00p 0.94%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,979.00p 0.85%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,343.00p 0.84%
National Grid (NG.) 893.40p 0.84%
easyJet (EZJ) 479.20p 0.80%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 991.80p 0.77%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 176.30p 0.63%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,118.00p 0.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BP (BP.) 469.50p -2.43%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,240.00p -2.01%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,124.00p -1.92%
Shell (SHEL) 2,731.50p -1.83%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 377.90p -1.25%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,472.50p -1.22%
Glencore (GLEN) 475.70p -1.20%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 377.80p -1.20%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,371.00p -1.16%
St James's Place (STJ) 517.00p -1.15%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 63.50p 6.01%
Carnival (CCL) 1,139.00p 4.11%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 589.50p 2.43%
Future (FUTR) 1,122.00p 2.09%
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX) 165.20p 1.85%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,448.00p 1.41%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 418.20p 0.92%
Playtech (PTEC) 484.00p 0.83%
Man Group (EMG) 264.00p 0.76%
NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 72.40p 0.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 920.00p -5.25%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 715.00p -5.17%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 218.80p -4.70%
AO World (AO.) 108.80p -4.23%
Senior (SNR) 157.60p -3.79%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 270.00p -3.57%
Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 605.00p -3.51%
Primary Health Properties (PHP) 92.20p -3.35%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 78.00p -3.35%
Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 465.00p -3.13%