London open: Mining stocks lift FTSE but Morrisons slumps after results

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.75% at 6,771.66 in early deals with metal producers rising strongly after stronger-than-expected Chinese lending data overnight.

New renminbi loans rose by 1.02bn yuan in February, less than the 1.47bn extended in the prior month but nevertheless well ahead of the 700bn expected by economists.

Investors will be looking out for a barrage of other economic indicators during the session, whilst keeping their eyes on moves in the euro-dollar which has dominated trading over the last few days.

The currencies are getting closer to parity - the EUR/USD temporarily dipped below 1.05 early on for the first time since January 2003 - as the European Central Bank bond-buying programme continues and speculation ramps up about a rate hike Stateside.

"The pair looks to be stabilising, although the mere fact that it made new lows this morning and isn’t showing signs of momentum loss suggests to me that bias is going to remain to the downside," said analyst Craig Erlam from FX specialists Oanda.

In economic data, German inflation numbers are due out on Thursday, along with figures on UK trade, Eurozone industrial production, US retail sales, US jobless claims and US business inventories.

Mining stocks jump, Morrisons slumps

Miners such as Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Anglo American, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Randgold were among the best performers on the FTSE 100 early on as metal prices recovered after declining earlier in the week on a stronger US dollar.

Antofagasta in particular was up over 3% after reaching an agreement with locals to resolve two-week-long protests that have affected production at its flagship Los Pelambres copper project in Chile. The company expected normal operations to resume in the coming days, but admitted that the industrial action resulted in 8,000 tonnes of lost production.

However, BHP Billiton was bucking the trend after going ex-dividend, along with Direct Line, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hammerson, Land Securities, Shire and Standard Chartered.

Like-for-like sales improved in the fourth quarter at Morrisons but the grocer reported a £792m loss before tax for 2014 as it wrote down the value of its stores by £1.3bn, causing shares to fall. The supermarket group said it was hiking the total dividend by 5% to 13.65p but said the payment for the new financial year was likely to be more than halved, to "not less than 5p per share".

Soco International plummeted nearly 30% after the oil and gas group said profits sank to just $14m in 2014 from $104.1m the year before on the back of challenging market conditions

Shares in ASOS soared 18% after the online fashion retailer impressed investors with a strong acceleration in sales growth in the second quarter, helped by a 30% jump in sales in the UK.

ITV gained after agreeing to acquire Netherlands-based television producer Talpa Media, maker of The Voice, for around £355m.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,154.60 +0.56%
FTSE 100 6,771.66 +0.75%
FTSE 250 17,001.92 +0.31%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 721.00p +3.15%
Fresnillo (FRES) 667.00p +2.62%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,592.00p +2.61%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,650.00p +2.21%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,109.00p +2.16%
Glencore (GLEN) 291.55p +2.07%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,897.50p +1.88%
Diageo (DGE) 1,883.50p +1.87%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,629.00p +1.85%
Prudential (PRU) 1,663.00p +1.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 991.90p -3.18%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 319.70p -3.12%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,138.00p -1.22%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 204.20p -1.11%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,461.00p -0.75%
Kingfisher (KGF) 350.50p -0.60%
Hammerson (HMSO) 651.50p -0.53%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 281.90p -0.49%
BT Group (BT.A) 444.30p -0.49%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,729.00p -0.46%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 214.30p +4.79%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 466.20p +4.04%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 131.80p +3.70%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 56.55p +3.38%
Michael Page International (MPI) 519.50p +3.28%
Supergroup (SGP) 885.50p +2.97%
Lonmin (LMI) 113.90p +2.80%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 167.60p +2.76%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,298.00p +2.45%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 245.00p +2.38%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Soco International (SIA) 170.40p -29.59%
Serco Group (SRP) 179.00p -13.28%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 180.90p -7.47%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 148.00p -3.77%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 184.70p -3.30%
Bodycote (BOY) 736.00p -3.09%
Greggs (GRG) 996.50p -1.63%
Keller Group (KLR) 953.50p -1.60%
Greencore Group (GNC) 323.20p -1.34%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 938.00p -1.32%