London open: Stocks track gains in Asia

UK stocks rose on Monday, tracking gains in Asia as an improvement in China's fixed asset investment offset worse-than-expected industrial production and retail sales figures.

China's fixed-asset investment growth accelerated to 10.2% year-on-year in the January to February period, beating forecasts of 9.5% and compared with 10% the prior period.

Industrial output growth slowed to 5.4% year-on-year between January and February, missing analysts' estimates of 5.6% after an increase of 5.9% the prior month.

Retail sales growth cooled to 10.2% on an annual basis, falling short of forecast for a 10.8% rise after a 11.1% gain the previous month.

While Monday's economic calendar is quiet, a busy week lies ahead with the Bank of Japan's policy decision on Tuesday, the UK Budget 2016 and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday followed by the Bank of England's policy announcement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UK commodities market shrugged off another decline in oil prices. At 0900 GMT, Brent crude dropped 1.3% to $39.89 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate slid 1.5% to $37.92 per barrel.

Mining stocks rallied as base metal prices rose with Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton topping the FTSE 100.

Among corporate stocks, Admiral slumped after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the company to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’.

SSE advanced as it said it has signed agreements for the sale of 49.9% of its operational 349.6MW Clyde Wind Farm to

Greencoat UK Wind and GMPF & LPFA Infrastructure LLP for a headline £355m.

Royal Bank of Scotland declined on news it is cutting 550 jobs as part of a plan to reduce its investment advice team.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,181.02 0.67%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,706.53 0.67%
techMARK (TASX) 3,099.57 0.63%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 148.35p 4.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 535.20p 3.80%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 840.70p 3.05%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,063.00p 2.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,054.50p 2.72%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 538.00p 2.67%
GKN (GKN) 286.80p 2.58%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 478.25p 2.23%
Old Mutual (OML) 185.90p 2.14%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,071.00p 1.90%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 1,877.00p -1.98%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,745.00p -0.87%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 282.30p -0.81%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,078.00p -0.52%
Aviva (AV.) 493.50p -0.38%
Barclays (BARC) 165.50p -0.30%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,746.50p -0.16%
Fresnillo (FRES) 928.50p -0.11%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,352.00p -0.06%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 229.50p -0.04%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 566.00p 5.50%
NMC Health (NMC) 946.50p 4.13%
Evraz (EVR) 92.25p 3.65%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 361.70p 3.46%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 307.20p 3.40%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 166.00p 3.23%
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 265.50p 3.07%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,806.00p 2.79%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 292.60p 2.67%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 239.20p 2.44%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Acacia Mining (ACA) 255.50p -3.80%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 264.30p -3.33%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 117.70p -2.73%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,947.00p -2.16%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 207.80p -1.05%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 491.90p -1.03%
Pendragon (PDG) 35.57p -0.97%
Assura (AGR) 54.00p -0.92%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 690.50p -0.79%
William Hill (WMH) 375.80p -0.74%