London open: Stocks flat as investors eye Carney, Hammond speeches

London stocks were flat in early trade as investors sifted through corporate news and awaited speeches from Bank of England governor Mark Carney and Chancellor Philip Hammond.

At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,521.00, while the pound was up 0.1% against the euro and the dollar at 1.1442 and 1.2752, respectively, ahead of the Mansion House speeches at 0830 BST.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "The Chancellor and Bank of England chief are giving their delayed Mansion House speeches this morning, shifting the swanky evening event to a less ostentatious breakfast setting following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

"Hammond is expected to use his address to push for a softer Brexit, urging the flagging Prime Minister to put the economy first. Carney, meanwhile, is talking for the first since May’s near 3% CPI reading and the Monetary Policy Committee’s subsequent (and unexpected) rate vote split, so investors will be keen to pick through his comments to see if and how the central bank is going to tackle the UK’s soaring inflation."

Markets participants will continue to keep a close eye on Brexit negotiations after the UK agreed on day one to the EU's demand for a two-phased negotiation whereby the divorce will be settled before any future trade deal can be negotiated. Brexit secretary David Davis had wanted the two strands of negotiations to be staged in parallel, but on Monday both sides agreed to set up working groups on EU citizens' rights and the size, the divorce bill and borders, but not trade. Davis had previously said that not settling both issues simultaneously would be "the row of the summer".

Investors were also digesting the latest economic forecast from the Confederation of British Industry, which said it now expects 1.6% growth for 2017 and 1.4% for 2018, compared to previous expectations of 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.

In corporate news, Barclays edged lower after it and four former executives were charged by the Serious Fraud Office with conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance over the bank's emergency fundraising deal with Qatar at the height of the financial crisis.

Building materials distribution company Wolseley was on the back foot after the third quarter saw strong US sales, but a slowdown in the UK.

Ultra Electronics nudged down despite being awarded a "major" surveillance and security system contract valued at $18m over the next 26 months.

Great Portland Estates ticked lower after buying the freehold of land and buildings including Cityside and Challenger House in London E1 from Hermes Investment Management for £49.6m.

Cairn Energy lost ground after it announced the acquisition of interests in two licences in the Gulf of Mexico.

Assura was weaker as it announced plans to place up to 164m new ordinary shares or around 9.9% of the company's existing issued share capital to fund its acquisition and development pipeline.

Tullow Oil gushed lower as it chief financial officer Ian Springett resigned from the board with immediate effect due to ill health, to be succeeded by Les Wood.

Going the other way, international service company Serco was trading higher after it signed the contract and completed financial agreements to operate the New Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales, Australia, having been named the ‘preferred bidder’ in March.

Retailer N Brown surged as it reported that sales rose 10.2% in the 13 weeks to 3 June.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,521.00 -0.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,889.19 0.08%
techMARK (TASX) 3,610.38 0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Persimmon (PSN) 2,303.00p 1.10%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,361.00p 0.89%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,347.00p 0.84%
WPP (WPP) 1,687.00p 0.66%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 577.00p 0.61%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 181.70p 0.61%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 259.50p 0.58%
Sage Group (SGE) 716.50p 0.56%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,375.00p 0.51%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 599.00p 0.50%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Wolseley (WOS) 4,706.00p -3.64%
BT Group (BT.A) 285.15p -1.57%
Centrica (CNA) 200.50p -0.99%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,918.00p -0.80%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,379.00p -0.71%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 954.50p -0.68%
Old Mutual (OML) 200.00p -0.65%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 688.00p -0.52%
Barclays (BARC) 206.05p -0.34%
DCC (DCC) 7,440.00p -0.33%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 156.90p 2.42%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 489.30p 1.81%
P2P Global Investments (P2P) 915.00p 1.61%
Evraz (EVR) 183.80p 1.49%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) 1,303.00p 1.40%
Fidelity European Values (FEV) 226.00p 1.30%
ZPG Plc (ZPG) 367.70p 1.16%
Redefine International (RDI) 40.10p 1.13%
Halfords Group (HFD) 359.70p 1.12%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 256.70p 1.10%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

IWG (IWG) 334.00p -7.09%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 301.20p -4.53%
Assura (AGR) 62.20p -2.05%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,118.00p -1.58%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 344.00p -1.46%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,745.00p -1.45%
Pennon Group (PNN) 899.00p -1.43%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 176.00p -1.23%
Workspace Group (WKP) 935.50p -1.11%
Investec (INVP) 581.00p -0.94%