London open: Stocks rebound as mining shares rally

UK stocks rebounded on Friday from the previous day’s lows, boosted by a recovery in mining and oil shares, as the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes faded into the background.

The FTSE 100 ended lower on Thursday after the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest policy meeting, released on Wednesday, revealed that an interest-rate hike in June was a possibility, with a number of participants already angling for an increase at the April meeting.

However London’s equity market dusted off Thursday’s slump with miners Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto among the top risers as metal prices rose.

Oil producers including BHP Billiton, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Tullow Oil, were also sitting higher as crude prices reversed the prior day’s declines.

At 0851 BST Brent crude was up 0.44% to $49.03 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was up 0.57% to $48.95 per barrel.

On the economic calendar, there is little due on Friday with the CBI industrial orders at 1100 BST and US existing home sales at 1500 BST the only notable releases.

In company news, shares in precision instruments maker Spectris plunged after reporting a drop in like-for-like sales in a trading update for 1 January to 30 April.

Close Brothers jumped after the financial services group said it delivered an improved third quarter performance, with good loan book growth, tighter cost control and better market conditions for its market making unit Winterflood.

Riverstone Energy slid after the investment company said its first quarter net asset value fell to $1.33bn from $1.34bn at the end of 2015.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes edged higher after the competition watchdog said the company and Gala Coral may have to shed hundreds of stores if their proposed merger is to go ahead.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,141.94 1.46%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,872.82 0.85%
techMARK (TASX) 3,053.57 0.90%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,346.00p 4.67%
Anglo American (AAL) 604.90p 4.42%
Glencore (GLEN) 132.50p 3.43%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,222.00p 2.68%
Prudential (PRU) 1,326.00p 2.43%
Aviva (AV.) 435.80p 2.40%
Schroders (SDR) 2,580.00p 2.38%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 968.00p 2.38%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 833.60p 2.32%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,983.50p 2.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 411.10p 0.02%
Capita (CPI) 1,065.00p 0.28%
SABMiller (SAB) 4,227.50p 0.42%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,799.00p 0.43%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 261.30p 0.50%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 985.00p 0.56%
WPP (WPP) 1,569.00p 0.58%
British Land Company (BLND) 725.00p 0.62%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,259.00p 0.72%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,815.00p 0.72%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ladbrokes (LAD) 127.80p 6.95%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 114.80p 6.39%
Henderson Group (HGG) 257.60p 4.76%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 279.60p 3.86%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,265.00p 3.27%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 263.30p 3.25%
Pendragon (PDG) 37.64p 3.12%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,230.00p 3.02%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 70.05p 3.01%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 249.50p 3.01%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Spectris (SXS) 1,681.00p -5.03%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 849.50p -2.58%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 70.75p -2.35%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 437.50p -2.15%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 335.50p -2.04%
JPMorgan American Inv Trust (JAM) 279.49p -1.59%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 94.00p -1.36%
Homeserve (HSV) 418.50p -1.20%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 322.46p -0.96%
Indivior (INDV) 163.80p -0.79%