London open: Stocks open lower ahead of economic data, but BP rises

Weakness on Wall Street and nervousness ahead of some key US data resulted in a negative start for UK stocks on Friday, though gains from oil major BP limited the decline.

BP was on the rise early on after being handed a smaller-than-expected civil penalty over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.

Nevertheless, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 6,463 shortly after the open.

“The negative open can be attributed to a weak finish by US bourses following more disappointing US Q4 results from Bank of America, Citigroup and Best Buy, oil retracing gains and mixed data,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

A surprise decision by the Swiss National Bank to remove a currency ceiling rocked financial markets worldwide on Thursday, causing stocks to plummet initially, though equities rallied strongly into the close as hopes for further stimulus measures in the Eurozone increased.

As for Friday’s session, the focus will be on data with US consumer-price index (CPI) inflation numbers due out later on, along with US industrial production figures and the University of Michigan US consumer-confidence index.

Inflation will be closely watched and is expected to show that the annual rate of price rises slowed dramatically to just 0.7% in December from 1.3% the month before on the back of a recent slump in oil. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, is expected to hold steady at 1.7%.

“With rising wages seen bringing inflationary pressures, there is very little concern about the inflation outlook in the US and in fact, the Fed expects inflation to return to its 2% target, opening the door to that first rate hike,” said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.

The final reading of the Eurozone CPI for December is also due for release and is forecast to show that the region fell into deflation for the first time since October 2009.

BP oil spill fine less than expected

Oil giant BP faces a maximum penalty of $13.7bn under the Clean Water Act, after the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruling on the Deepwater Horizon case has found that 3.19m barrels of oil were discharged in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The bill, which was some $4bn less than feared, put the spill's size below the government's 4.09m estimate and just under the 3.26m estimated by the firm.

Others in the oil and gas sector, however, were mostly weaker such as BG Group, Shell and Tullow Oil.

FTSE 250 producer Afren was extending gains after soaring 32% the previous session on the back of takeover speculation. The advance came after Nigerian group Seplat, which had approached Afren last month regarding a merger, secured an option to raise up to $700m to fund acquisitions.

JD Sports Fashion was a high riser after the sportswear retailer raised its profit outlook for the full year following a strong Christmas. “The board is now confident that the headline profit before tax and exceptional items for our continuing operations will exceed the top end of market expectations for the current financial year which currently range up to £90m,” the company said.

Product testing group Spectris also rose after reporting that sales rose across the board in the fourth quarter and like-for-like sales for full 2014 financial year were up 2%.

A slowdown in growth in the fourth quarter at Moneysupermarket.com did little to dampen the stock with the group hailing double-digit growth in revenues and profits for 2014.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,977.43 -0.27%
FTSE 100 6,463.08 -0.55%
FTSE 250 15,859.27 -0.35%

FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 399.20p +1.68%
BT Group (BT.A) 404.70p +1.12%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,878.00p +0.98%
SSE (SSE) 1,487.00p +0.47%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,439.00p +0.35%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 954.00p +0.32%
Glencore (GLEN) 241.30p +0.29%
TUI AG Reg Shs (Post- 16/12/14)(DI) (TUIJ) 1,093.00p +0.28%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,738.00p +0.22%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 854.00p +0.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 345.80p -2.56%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 974.00p -2.16%
Meggitt (MGGT) 507.50p -2.03%
Fresnillo (FRES) 839.00p -1.87%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,000.00p -1.86%
BG Group (BG.) 806.70p -1.67%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,180.00p -1.61%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 427.60p -1.57%
Kingfisher (KGF) 313.80p -1.51%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,659.00p -1.48%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Spectris (SXS) 2,110.00p +7.38%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 511.00p +7.33%
Afren (AFR) 29.50p +2.57%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 167.70p +2.57%
NMC Health (NMC) 499.80p +2.00%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 405.00p +1.86%
PayPoint (PAY) 898.00p +1.76%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 173.70p +1.76%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,402.00p +1.59%
Saga (SAGA) 164.90p +1.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Lonmin (LMI) 165.10p -3.62%
Countrywide (CWD) 438.00p -3.52%
Premier Oil (PMO) 133.00p -3.34%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 204.70p -3.31%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 121.40p -3.19%
Dignity (DTY) 1,787.00p -3.09%
Hunting (HTG) 432.30p -2.53%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 173.40p -2.14%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 423.00p -2.08%
Henderson Group (HGG) 211.90p -1.94%