London open: Mining stocks lead FTSE higher amid lack of data
London stocks opened on the front foot on Thursday, led by mining stocks, amid no notable economic data releases as traders in the US took a break for Thanksgiving.
Mining stocks including Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto, topped the FTSE 100 in morning trade as copper prices surged 2.32% on the Comex.
Meanwhile, investors continued to process George Osborne’s joint Spending Review and Autumn Statement.
Osborne on Wednesday announced measures to support the housing sector which gave housebuilding stocks a boost. The Chancellor also made a giant U-turn on tax credits and announced an increase in the state pension and a change in NHS finances.
He confirmed the government will deliver a budget surplus of £10bn by 2019/20 and that £12bn of welfare savings would be delivered in full. The government will borrow £8bn less than forecast to reach this goal. Osborne predicted the UK economy will grow by 2.4% in 2015-16, 2.5% in 2016-17 before returning to 2.4% in 2017-18 and 2.3% in 2019-20.
“After George Osborne’s Autumn Statement helped the FTSE to some solid housing sector-inspired gains yesterday the UK index will be aiming to continue its crawl back to the 6400 mark this morning,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
“Currently up by around 20 points the FTSE, which sees no notable data this Thursday, will be reliant on the performance of its commodity stocks.”
Among corporate stocks, Tesco gained after paying $12m to settle one of two class action lawsuits brought by disgruntled US investors who sued over the overstatement of the grocer's 2014 first-half profits.
Telford Homes declined after completing the acquisition of a development site in East London for over £20m.
Paypoint plunged as it reported a 1.4% drop in revenue for the six months to 30 September, to £102.8m.
Daily Mail and General Trust advanced as it sold its online discount business, Wowcher, to a newly formed company controlled by Exponent Private Equity, in which it holds a stake of around 30%.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,358.08 0.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,136.51 0.15%
techMARK (TASX) 3,205.96 0.33%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 94.02p 3.80%
Anglo American (AAL) 429.55p 2.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 512.00p 2.69%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 570.60p 1.67%
Fresnillo (FRES) 732.00p 1.60%
Tesco (TSCO) 171.05p 1.51%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 255.80p 1.35%
Centrica (CNA) 219.00p 1.34%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,877.00p 1.30%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,278.50p 1.29%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 839.70p -1.62%
National Grid (NG.) 931.00p -1.58%
Sky (SKY) 1,106.00p -1.07%
Aviva (AV.) 511.00p -0.58%
Intu Properties (INTU) 322.00p -0.53%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,827.00p -0.49%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,781.00p -0.45%
Kingfisher (KGF) 347.30p -0.37%
Diageo (DGE) 1,919.50p -0.31%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,120.00p -0.28%
FTSE 250 - Risers
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 353.90p 3.69%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 92.40p 2.78%
Marston's (MARS) 163.90p 2.76%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 379.70p 2.46%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 57.20p 2.05%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,596.00p 2.05%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 104.60p 1.95%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 173.20p 1.82%
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 278.60p 1.68%
IP Group (IPO) 233.30p 1.66%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PayPoint (PAY) 870.00p -12.34%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 690.50p -8.91%
Diploma (DPLM) 687.50p -2.14%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,541.00p -2.03%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 433.10p -1.99%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 216.90p -1.72%
NMC Health (NMC) 874.50p -1.69%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 910.50p -1.67%
Card Factory (CARD) 355.60p -1.55%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 102.00p -1.35%