London open: Stocks little changed as investors sift corporate news

London stocks were little changed in early trade as investors chewed over a smorgasbord of corporate releases.

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,357.85. The economic calendar is fairly light on Tuesday, but on Wednesday all eyes will be on the Budget, while Friday sees the release of the US non-farm payrolls report.

On the corporate front, Ashtead was on the front foot after its third-quarter results revealed it remained en route to a strong year of growth, with gross capital expenditure expected towards the upper end of its our previous guidance

Testing, inspection and certification specialist Intertek rose as it said full-year 2016 sales rocketed 18.5% to £2.57bn as weakness in the pound continued to bolster its top-line.

Just Eat rallied after it reported a surge in 2016 revenue and earnings as it seeks to capture further share of the online food delivery market.

Newly merged bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair was in the red after saying its new financial year has started in line with expectations, as it reported a 35% rise in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to £400m.

Electronic payments processor Worldpay fell despite posting a big jump in 2016 pre-tax profit.

Direct Line nudged lower after saying its full-year profit took a £175m hit from the reduction in the Ogden discount rate.

Power supplier Aggreko tanked as it issued a profit warning, saying its 2017 results would be offset by the “significant impact” of a reduction in pricing on contracts in Argentina.

Challenger bank Shawbrook was under pressure as it rejected a takeover offer from major investor Pollen Street after consulting with a number of its other large shareholders.

BHP Biliton was in the red after talk of Chile’s presidential hopeful urging striking miners to refuse a poor contract offer, while other miners were in the spotlight as base metals diverge on digestion of slower China growth outlook.

Elsewhere, investors were digesting the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, which showed UK retail sales softened in February as consumers adopted a more cautious approach, with non-food sales bearing the brunt of the reduction in spending.

Total retail sales rose by 0.4% year-on-year in February, down from a 1.1% rise in the same month one year ago and below the three-month average of 0.8% and the 12-month average increase of 0.9%.

On a like-for-like basis, retail sales slipped 0.4% during the same month, down from a 0.1% rise in the preceding year.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “The BRC’s survey provides more evidence that the surge in retail sales in the second half of last year reflected consumers bringing forward purchases from 2017, because they anticipated price rises.”

Earlier, the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold at 1.5% as expected, and signalled that economic conditions were in line with its inflation and growth targets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,357.85 0.11%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,885.06 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 3,449.02 0.07%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,320.00p 1.51%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,357.00p 1.50%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,636.00p 1.17%
Carnival (CCL) 4,445.00p 1.09%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,956.00p 1.03%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,915.00p 1.01%
Glencore (GLEN) 329.45p 0.90%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,356.00p 0.71%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 256.60p 0.63%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 807.00p 0.62%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Worldpay Group (WPG) 265.90p -3.31%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,698.00p -2.64%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,645.00p -1.59%
Standard Life (SL.) 394.10p -1.48%
SSE (SSE) 1,525.00p -1.17%
Centrica (CNA) 223.50p -1.15%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,815.00p -0.82%
Informa (INF) 670.50p -0.81%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 346.00p -0.69%
Capita (CPI) 510.50p -0.68%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 654.50p 7.83%
Just Eat (JE.) 540.00p 4.25%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 159.60p 3.30%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,643.00p 2.64%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,472.00p 2.15%
Marston's (MARS) 135.10p 1.89%
Ibstock (IBST) 206.90p 1.87%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 863.50p 1.47%
Hunting (HTG) 576.00p 1.32%
PayPoint (PAY) 996.00p 1.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aggreko (AGK) 951.00p -10.11%
Mitie Group (MTO) 197.90p -5.81%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 401.30p -5.04%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 291.70p -2.57%
IP Group (IPO) 151.70p -2.13%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 313.30p -1.88%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 188.60p -1.62%
Berendsen (BRSN) 807.00p -1.47%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 950.00p -1.25%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 294.70p -1.21%