London open: Stocks rebound after sell-off as earnings impress

UK stocks advanced on Thursday morning but only partly clawed back losses after a heavy sell-off the previous session.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.1% at 6,458 early on, with updates from blue chips Experian, Associated British Foods and Tullow Oil being well-received by the market.

The index had dropped 2.4% on Wednesday as copper prices fell to their lowest in almost six years on the World Bank's slashed growth forecasts for the global economy. Disappointing results from JPMorgan and worse-than-expected US retail sales were also weighing on sentiment.

“There was absolute carnage in the City yesterday as record lows for [some] stocks slammed the FTSE down to its worst day of the year,” said trade Rocky Muddar from TradeNext.

Oil prices resumed their decline after rising by the most since June 2012 on Wednesday despite US government data showing that stockpiles increased more than expected last week.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 1.2% at $47.90 a barrel on Thursday morning. WTI jumped 5.6% on Wednesday on a day that options for the February contract expired, while prices were also boosted by a weaker US dollar.

Experian, ABF and Tullow rise

Third-quarter organic revenue was flat at information services group Experian, but shares rose strongly after the company hailed “good progress” during the period. Total revenue from continuing activities was down 1%, but at constant exchange rates grew by 2%.

Associated British Foods warned that full-year earnings would be hit by a large profit reduction at its sugar business and the strength of sterling. However, the stock was in demand after Primark, the main driver of growth at the retail and food ingredients group, recovered strongly after a slow autumn.

Tullow Oil was rising but had trimmed most of its early gains within the opening hour as investors digested a pre-close trading update that showed the company was taking billions of dollars-worth of write-offs and impairment charges and said profits more than halved last year due to the collapse in crude prices. The company also lowered its exploration budget for 2015.

Others in the oil and gas sector were also making gains such as BG Group and BP after Wednesday’s rebound, albeit temporary, in crude prices.

Strong performances across its businesses in December saw real estate advisor Savills revise its full-year estimates upward, helping shares to jump early on. Underlying results are now expected to be “well ahead of our previous expectations”,

A number of stocks were trading lower early on after going ex-dividend, including Next, Imperial Tobacco and Poundland.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,983.86 +0.83%
FTSE 100 6,457.99 +1.09%
FTSE 250 15,962.03 +0.57%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian (EXPN) 1,103.00p +3.57%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,831.00p +2.68%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 718.00p +2.57%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,317.50p +2.53%
BG Group (BG.) 813.00p +2.30%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,093.00p +2.25%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,101.00p +2.17%
Barclays (BARC) 228.30p +2.12%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,074.00p +2.09%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,367.50p +2.03%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,852.00p -2.73%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 667.00p -1.19%
Fresnillo (FRES) 807.50p -1.04%
Next (NXT) 6,880.00p -0.51%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,932.00p -0.36%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 442.60p -0.32%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,102.00p -0.27%
BT Group (BT.A) 400.40p -0.25%
Kingfisher (KGF) 328.40p -0.24%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Savills (SVS) 708.50p +8.67%
Afren (AFR) 23.35p +7.41%
Polymetal International (POLY) 570.50p +5.75%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 169.60p +3.67%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 2,997.00p +3.34%
Rotork (ROR) 2,374.00p +3.26%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 353.30p +3.12%
Halma (HLMA) 697.50p +3.10%
Premier Oil (PMO) 135.90p +2.95%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,312.00p +2.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Home Retail Group (HOME) 198.90p -6.18%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 323.40p -4.83%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 794.00p -3.11%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,312.00p -2.32%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 166.60p -2.23%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 679.50p -2.23%
IP Group (IPO) 222.40p -2.03%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 177.10p -1.83%
Booker Group (BOK) 159.70p -1.78%
Marston's (MARS) 140.00p -1.69%