London open: Stocks weaker amid US election worries, ahead of Fed

Stocks in London fell in early trade following downbeat sessions in the US and Asia, as jitters set in after a new poll revealed Republican candidate Donald Trump was in the lead in the US presidential race and ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate announcement.

At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5% to 6,883.48. Meanwhile, oil prices were lower, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.8% to $46.29 a barrel and Brent crude 0.6% weaker at $47.86.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “As with all binary outcomes there can only be one winner and one loser and having had their fingers horribly burnt with the “Brexit” vote in June, financial markets appear to be starting to pare some risk in the lead up to next week’s Presidential vote, in the event that in circumstances that would probably have been unthinkable a week or so ago, that Donald Trump could win the US Presidency.”

As far as the Fed decision is concerned, Hewson said there is little expectation it will act on interest rates on Wednesday, with markets assigning a mere 16% probability of a move.

“But we might get an indication from US policymakers as to whether they give stronger guidance towards a December move, or whether the statement is broadly unchanged,” he said.

In corporate news, retailer Next pushed higher after it trimmed its full-year sales guidance following a drop of almost 6% in third-quarter retail sales but said profits would come in as expected thanks to cutting its cloth more severely.

Housebuilder Persimmon advanced after it said trading in the third quarter following the Brexit vote was “encouraging” but remained cautious about new land investment due to the economic uncertainty brought about by the referendum.

Ryanair flew higher after reporting a 13% jump in traffic in October to 10.9m customers, as the load factor – which gauges how full the planes are – nudged up to 95% from 94%.

G4S surged as it said revenue in the nine months to the end of September rose 5.7% from the same period last year.

On the downside, Rolls-Royce nudged lower after announcing that Andreas Schell has been appointed as chief executive officer of the Power Systems division.

OneSavings Bank declined despite posting a 13% rise in its nine-month underlying loan book.

Just Eat slipped a touch after upping its expectations for full-year revenues and adjusted earnings as it said orders in the UK were up 28% in the third quarter, which was a slowdown from 50% growth in the same quarter last year.

JD Wetherspoon slid after it warned that sales slowed in recent weeks and said it expects higher costs for the remainder of the year.

Millennium & Copthorne was flat despite reporting a jump in pre-tax profit for the third quarter on the back of the weaker pound.

On the data front, the UK construction purchasing managers’ index is at 0930 GMT. In the US, the ADP employment report is at 1215 GMT and the FOMC rate decision is at 1800 GMT.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,884.94 -0.47%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,428.25 -0.54%
techMARK (TASX) 3,319.62 -0.37%

FTSE 100 - Risers

easyJet (EZJ) 960.50p 2.13%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,520.00p 1.69%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,413.00p 0.86%
Next (NXT) 4,850.00p 0.83%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,731.00p 0.76%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,537.00p 0.55%
Polymetal International (POLY) 943.00p 0.48%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,635.00p 0.47%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,742.00p 0.29%
Pearson (PSON) 751.00p 0.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 657.60p -2.33%
Schroders (SDR) 2,761.00p -1.71%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 183.60p -1.61%
Barclays (BARC) 183.90p -1.50%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,460.00p -1.49%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,892.00p -1.43%
3i Group (III) 657.50p -1.35%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 206.90p -1.24%
Capita (CPI) 577.00p -1.20%
Aviva (AV.) 433.70p -1.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers

G4S (GFS) 235.40p 6.95%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 1,815.00p 3.12%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 192.50p 1.85%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 90.00p 1.81%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 262.70p 1.78%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 389.50p 1.54%
Indivior (INDV) 320.60p 1.23%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 541.50p 1.12%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 271.30p 0.97%
Rank Group (RNK) 195.30p 0.93%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 846.00p -4.73%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 132.50p -3.43%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 276.20p -3.29%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 424.90p -2.88%
Henderson Group (HGG) 224.20p -2.48%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 209.10p -2.29%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 259.30p -2.15%
IP Group (IPO) 145.90p -2.01%
Ibstock (IBST) 167.30p -1.99%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 354.40p -1.83%