London open: Stocks in the red as oil slips; Lloyds slumps on results

London stocks fell in early trade, taking their cue from a downbeat session on Wall Street, amid declining oil prices.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5% to 6,980.58.

Meanwhile, oil prices retreated, with West Texas Intermediate down 1.1% at $49.39 a barrel and Brent crude down 1 at $50.29.

Oanda’s Craig Erlam said: “Oil prices have been in decline over the last couple of days which will be part of the problem. With doubts being cast over the OPEC output deal and API on Tuesday reporting inventories rose more than expected last week – a rise which if confirmed by EIA today would all but offset last week’s decline – further declines in oil could lie ahead. From a technical standpoint, a break below $50.50 could trigger a move back towards $49. A similar break below $49 in WTI could prompt a move back towards $47-47.50.”

In corporate news, Lloyds Banking Group slid as it set aside a further provision of £1bn for compensation for mis-selling payment protection insurance in the third quarter of the year, as net income and profits both fell. For the three months ended 30 September, net income fell 1% to £2.85bn and underlying profits dropped by 3% to £1.91bn.

Banking group CYBG dropped as confirmed Wednesday it has made a preliminary non-binding proposal to Royal Bank of Scotland regarding its Williams and Glyn operations,

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca edged lower despite saying its Lynparza drug had positive results from a clinical trial to treat women with mutated ovarian cancer.

International distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl was a little weaker after it said group revenue for the third quarter increased by 7%, with 3% contributed by acquisitions and 4% due to the impact of additional trading days compared to the same time last year. Underlying revenue for the quarter was at a similar level to the third quarter last year.

Metro Bank was also on the back foot despite saying it swung to a pre-tax profit in the third quarter – its first quarterly profit – as revenue surged.

Meggitt was little changed as it won a $48m contract for a health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) from engineering and maintenance organisation Guangzhou Hangxin Avionics, for its helicopters.

On the macroeconomic front, there are no major UK data due but in the US, wholesale inventories are at 1330 BST, Markit’s services PMI is at 1445 BST and new home sales are at 1500 BST.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,945.41 -1.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,612.31 -1.06%
techMARK (TASX) 3,405.33 -0.74%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 243.80p 1.50%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 407.30p 1.37%
Tesco (TSCO) 212.25p 1.00%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,473.00p 0.89%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 336.30p 0.57%
Diageo (DGE) 2,214.00p 0.48%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,448.00p 0.33%
easyJet (EZJ) 928.00p 0.32%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 192.80p 0.26%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,444.00p 0.15%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 505.00p -6.57%
Capita (CPI) 586.00p -3.38%
Glencore (GLEN) 240.00p -2.50%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,138.00p -2.49%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,086.50p -2.47%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,371.00p -2.29%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,134.50p -2.20%
BP (BP.) 484.85p -2.08%
GKN (GKN) 307.40p -2.07%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,041.50p -2.02%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aldermore Group (ALD) 175.30p 3.42%
Vectura Group (VEC) 133.90p 2.45%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 152.90p 1.59%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 68.90p 1.32%
FirstGroup (FGP) 106.00p 1.15%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 702.50p 1.08%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 295.10p 1.06%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,685.00p 0.98%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 235.80p 0.77%
BTG (BTG) 679.00p 0.74%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 868.00p -4.09%
Hunting (HTG) 504.50p -3.72%
NCC Group (NCC) 199.50p -3.67%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 570.00p -3.55%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 268.50p -3.42%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 230.00p -3.36%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 206.80p -3.18%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 369.00p -3.15%
IMI (IMI) 979.00p -2.97%
Just Eat (JE.) 507.00p -2.97%