London open: Stocks little changed; Ocado slumps after results

London stocks were little changed in early trade on Tuesday following gains in the previous session on the back of US stimulus optimism.

At 0845 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 6,519.76.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Tuesday showed early signs of a post-splurge hangover, the markets at best holding fire following yesterday’s record highs.

"The FTSE cannot escape the orbit of 6,500. Missing out on the various short-term and all-time highs struck by its peers on Monday, the UK index moodily slipped back towards that key level."

In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado slumped despite reporting a 68.8% rise in full-year core earnings.

Campbell said "it appears investors have potentially been put off by Ocado’s planned £700m in capital expenditure, and a subdued outlook for UK retail growth in the coming 12 months".

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "While the combination of a grocer benefiting from the current pandemic and a high tech business gives investors two bites at the cherry, the stratospheric rise of the share price may have prompted some to take profits, with the market consensus of the shares having recently slipped to a sell as new developments are awaited."

TUI ticked higher even as the travel company slumped to a €699m first-quarter loss as Covid-19 lockdowns continued to hammer demand.

Micro Focus gained after the software firm reinstated its dividend, despite a near $3bn impairment charge pushing it deep into the red.

Electrocomponents rallied after an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan, while Bellway rose after the housebuilder hailed record first-half completions amid "robust" demand.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,519.76 -0.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,088.44 0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 4,121.16 -0.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 394.80p 1.13%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,473.00p 0.96%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,377.60p 0.88%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,066.00p 0.80%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,381.00p 0.73%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,314.00p 0.67%
BP (BP.) 263.55p 0.61%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 833.40p 0.60%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 699.00p 0.58%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,218.00p 0.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,633.00p -4.12%
Kingfisher (KGF) 270.00p -2.53%
Evraz (EVR) 512.60p -2.10%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,006.00p -1.81%
Sage Group (SGE) 584.20p -1.38%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,552.00p -1.12%
British Land Company (BLND) 454.20p -1.11%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 570.60p -0.90%
SEGRO (SGRO) 953.20p -0.85%
CRH (CRH) 3,106.00p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Electrocomponents (ECM) 984.00p 4.35%
Bellway (BWY) 3,112.00p 2.71%
Energean (ENOG) 869.20p 2.16%
Redrow (RDW) 571.50p 2.05%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 500.40p 1.77%
Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 1,504.00p 1.76%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 237.50p 1.71%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 239.00p 1.70%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 965.40p 1.43%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,284.00p 1.42%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Rank Group (RNK) 135.00p -3.30%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 459.20p -2.01%
HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 171.40p -1.72%
Provident Financial (PFG) 278.20p -1.70%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 91.80p -1.61%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 386.50p -1.53%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 230.60p -1.45%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,136.00p -1.45%
C&C Group (CCR) 249.00p -1.39%
Indivior (INDV) 140.70p -1.33%