London open: Stocks little changed as Trump, Brexit in focus
London stocks were little changed at the open on Tuesday as investors sifted through some corporate releases and continued to mull over US President Donald Trump’s latest policy decisions.
At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% to 7,125.30.
Accendo Markets’ Mike van Dulken said: “In focus today will be overnight escalation of the Trump travel ban after he fired the US attorney general for refusing to enforce his legal order, ordering Justice Department lawyers not to enforce it. Politicians get hired and fired daily, but markets don’t like uncertainty and rushed politics like world saw this weekend. After the Mexican wall, the risk is such protectionist events become too regular.
“In the UK, today sees MPs begin a two-day debate on Brexit, discussions extended to midnight to allow for more speakers before a vote on Wednesday.”
In Asia, the Bank of Japan stood pat on interest rates at -0.1%, as widely expected, and maintained the bank's target of raising the amount of outstanding Japan government bond holdings at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion. The BoJ lifted its forecasts for the economy but left its forecasts for inflation unchanged.
Investors were also digesting the latest survey from market research firm GfK, which showed that the confidence of UK consumers improved month-on-month in January.
The GfK consumer confidence index printed at -5 for the first month of the year, up two points from the previous month’s reading and surpassing analysts’ expectations of -8.
On the corporate front, energy company SSE nudged lower after confirming it still expects to increase its dividend by at least the same rate as inflation this year and in the future.
Water and wastewater company Severn Trent ticked just a touch higher as it said that after a “strong operational performance” in the third quarter, it now expects net customer outcome delivery incentive rewards for the full-year 2016-17 to be ahead of previous guidance of £15m.
Online supermarket Ocado was a high riser as it reported a rise in full-year core earnings and revenue, although there was no news on a long-awaited international deal, while drinks company Britvic also advanced as it reported growth in first-quarter revenue and said it was confident it will meet market expectations for the full year.
Irish convenience food group Greencore gained ground as it posted 17% growth on the year in group revenue for the 13 weeks to 30 December to £417m.
On the macroeconomic calendar, UK net lending, consumer credit and mortgage approvals are at 0930 GMT.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,125.30 0.10%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,124.41 0.24%
techMARK (TASX) 3,238.15 0.19%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,648.00p 1.35%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 822.50p 1.04%
Old Mutual (OML) 208.00p 1.02%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,256.50p 1.01%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,341.00p 0.98%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,137.00p 0.93%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,278.00p 0.89%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,519.00p 0.86%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 342.80p 0.85%
Next (NXT) 3,914.00p 0.72%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 237.50p -0.96%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,585.00p -0.75%
Aviva (AV.) 477.60p -0.71%
Barclays (BARC) 221.85p -0.69%
Prudential (PRU) 1,540.00p -0.65%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,866.00p -0.62%
SSE (SSE) 1,486.00p -0.40%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 195.30p -0.33%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,387.00p -0.32%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 678.30p -0.25%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 261.70p 7.08%
Greencore Group (GNC) 226.90p 3.94%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 148.90p 3.40%
G4S (GFS) 257.40p 2.35%
Britvic (BVIC) 602.00p 2.21%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 446.10p 2.06%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 238.60p 1.97%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 249.10p 1.84%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,032.00p 1.60%
Card Factory (CARD) 253.80p 1.56%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
CMC Markets (CMCX) 108.70p -3.63%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 529.50p -3.20%
Evraz (EVR) 214.00p -2.95%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 116.10p -2.76%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 220.80p -2.73%
Softcat (SCT) 298.40p -2.71%
CYBG (CYBG) 277.60p -2.46%
William Hill (WMH) 254.40p -1.97%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,461.00p -1.55%
Computacenter (CCC) 784.50p -1.44%