London open: Stocks open lower as investors sift through earnings

London stocks opened in the red tracking US markets which closed lower for the first time in three days.

With a lack of economic data to drive equities, traders are focusing on earnings from a slate of FTSE 350 companies.

Pearson was a top faller after reporting a 4% drop in third quarter underlying sales and reducing its earnings guidance range for the full year by 5p to 70p-75p.

Home Retail slumped as it posted a 47% plunge in pre-tax profits at its Argos stores and warned that group full-year profits will fall short of expectations due to trading uncertainty caused by Black Friday.

ARM Holdings surged after posting a jump in third-quarter pre-tax profit as revenue grew on the back of premium chip pricing and the broadening adoption of its technology.

Reckitt Benckiser Group rallied after lifting its full-year like-for-like sales growth estimate to 5% from a previous range of between 4% and 5% as it posted better-than-expected third-quarter revenue.

Sky was higher as it reported a strong first quarter with new paid-for subscription products boosting the company’s revenue.

The only main economic data release worth noting for the UK is public finance figures for September. Analysts predict a fall to £10.1bn from £12.1bn in August.

Meanwhile, Bank of England governor Mark Carney is due to speak later this evening on the analysis of banks but has told MPs it will be a “bit of a yawner”.

"The findings are likely to be quite political, particularly if they come down one way or the other," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,336.37 -0.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,966.01 -0.11%
techMARK (TASX) 3,029.25 0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,050.00p 9.03%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,318.00p 2.83%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,014.00p 2.37%
Sky (SKY) 1,092.00p 2.15%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 379.50p 2.13%
CRH (CRH) 1,738.00p 0.70%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 251.40p 0.64%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,491.00p 0.61%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,775.00p 0.56%
Royal Mail (RMG) 443.70p 0.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 1,036.00p -12.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 600.80p -3.56%
Glencore (GLEN) 110.95p -2.25%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,810.00p -1.90%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,428.00p -1.74%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,956.50p -1.69%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 549.00p -1.61%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,389.00p -1.61%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,521.00p -1.42%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,321.50p -1.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 537.00p 2.48%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,900.00p 2.15%
Saga (SAGA) 203.50p 2.11%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 166.00p 2.09%
Card Factory (CARD) 356.20p 1.71%
Keller Group (KLR) 888.00p 1.60%
esure Group (ESUR) 257.20p 1.54%
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate (KWE) 1,132.00p 1.43%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 342.90p 1.30%
PayPoint (PAY) 1,020.00p 1.29%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Home Retail Group (HOME) 130.60p -12.76%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 119.60p -3.78%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 90.05p -2.23%
Hunting (HTG) 391.60p -2.10%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 269.30p -2.07%
Premier Oil (PMO) 76.70p -1.86%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 214.00p -1.74%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 872.00p -1.69%
Renishaw (RSW) 1,921.00p -1.64%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,137.00p -1.56%