London open: Stocks snap losing streak on central bank hopes

UK stocks were snapping a four-day losing streak on Monday morning as hopes for central bank support repaired sentiment.

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.58% at 6,894.60 early on.

"The FTSE saw tentative gains this morning as the UK index tried to stall the four consecutive days of huge losses that saw the record-breaking 7,000 level recede into the distance," said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex.

The positive start followed a strong showing by stocks in the US on Friday and Asia overnight and came ahead of a busy day for economic data.

On Monday investors will be keeping an eye on mortgage approvals, lending and money-supply data in the UK, Eurozone consumer confidence, German inflation, US personal income and spending, US pending home sales and the all-important US personal consumption expenditures index figures.

US stocks managed to erase earlier losses on Friday after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen sounded a dovish tone, saying that any near-term policy tightening would only be very gradual. She said that the first rate hike may be "warranted later this year", pushing back markets' expectations of a potential tightening in June.

Meanwhile, Asian markets performed well after the governor of the People's Bank of China hinted at further measures to boost growth. Zhou Xiaochuan said the rate of economic growth had slowed “a bit” too far and the central bank has room to act, including through quantitative easing.

In other news, Greek bond yields edged lower on Monday amid hopes the country’s policymakers and its creditors can secure a funding deal to avert a credit default. Weekend talks between lawmakers from both sides came after the Greek government sent its list of reforms last Friday, with a view to unlocking the disbursement of the remaining €7.2bn of the bailout funds.

The yield on the country’s three-year sovereign bonds ticked 28 basis points lower to 19.585% while the 10-year bond yield was down by 7.4 basis points at 10.596%.

Compass and Quindell rise early on

Catering outfit Compass Group rose after saying it remained confident of achieving first-half organic revenue growth of approximately 5.5%.

Specialist UK insurance outsourcer Quindell saw shares soar after saying it is selling its professional services unit - the bulk of Quindell's operations - to Australian law-firm, Slater & Gordon, in a deal worth £700m.

Mining stocks were mixed with BHP Billiton and Fresnillo registering losses and Rio Tinto and Randgold Resources making gains.

Randgold was heading higher after chief executive Mark Bristow said he sees opportunities "to play a part in the likely restructuring of the gold mining industry".

Rolls-Royce was in demand after its Trent 1000 engines were selected by Air China to power 15 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Supermarket group Morrisons was hit with a downgrade to 'neutral' by Goldman Sachs.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,197.75 +0.93%
FTSE 100 6,894.60 +0.58%
FTSE 250 17,272.68 +0.64%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,441.00p +2.41%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,104.00p +2.32%
Kingfisher (KGF) 365.60p +2.18%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,464.00p +2.11%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,803.00p +2.04%
GKN (GKN) 367.10p +1.94%
Meggitt (MGGT) 570.50p +1.88%
Sage Group (SGE) 469.80p +1.71%
WPP (WPP) 1,566.00p +1.69%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 538.50p +1.60%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
BG Group (BG.) 853.70p -2.24%
CRH (CRH) 1,761.00p -1.51%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,152.00p -0.86%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,496.50p -0.73%
SSE (SSE) 1,537.00p -0.71%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 197.20p -0.65%
Experian (EXPN) 1,120.00p -0.44%
Fresnillo (FRES) 697.00p -0.43%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,537.00p -0.39%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,040.00p -0.38%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Supergroup (SGP) 995.00p +5.24%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 61.40p +3.28%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 791.00p +2.86%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 340.30p +2.69%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 144.00p +2.64%
IP Group (IPO) 233.90p +2.59%
Betfair Group (BET) 2,300.00p +2.40%
Diploma (DPLM) 830.00p +2.34%
Alent (ALNT) 375.00p +2.21%
ICAP (IAP) 538.50p +2.18%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 56.00p -2.52%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 1,051.00p -2.50%
Soco International (SIA) 157.60p -2.11%
Allied Minds (ALM) 676.50p -2.10%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,065.00p -1.84%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 256.90p -1.65%
Premier Oil (PMO) 138.70p -1.63%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 187.00p -1.58%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 138.90p -1.56%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 291.90p -1.52%