London open: Shares slip as Ukraine war, Fed's Bullard hit sentiment

The FTSE 100 was down 0.10% in early deals, with losses offset by higher commodity prices, helping the mining-heavy index.

“With the first quarter earnings season now accelerating, investors are still keenly watching for the effects of the Omicron variant, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and spiralling inflation on global growth,” said Interactive Investor head of markets Richard Hunter.

“It will also become increasingly clear as to whether inflamed price pressures are being borne by companies as far as possible or whether these are being passed on to customers, adding to the personal inflationary squeeze.”

“Given this global backdrop, the FTSE 100 remains relatively in vogue as investors search for some pockets of prospective growth. Stocks providing some sort of inflation hedge as well as defensive sectors have seen some buying interest and, in terms of the availability of such requirements, the UK’s premier index has much to offer.

“Even so, the index is not immune to the pervading sentiment and has made a lacklustre start in early trade, despite the best efforts of the miners and the oils on elevated commodity prices.”

In Ukraine, Russian forces overnight launched their long-expected offensive in the east of the country after massing troops and artillery there for the past fortnight.

Investors were also digesting comments from St Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who repeated his case for increasing interest rates to 3.5% by the end of the year on Monday, saying domestic inflation was "far too high".

In equity news, gains in commodity stocks kept losses in check, boosted by higher metal prices on the back of hopes of more stimulus in China. Oil majors BP and Shell were also higher after JP Morgan raised its price targets on the companies' shares.

Shares in travel food outlet operator SSP Group fell after Deutsche Bank downgraded the company's shares to "hold" from "buy".

Spectris rose 3.2% after the electrical engineering firm said it will sell specialist sensor maker Omega Engineering to private equity firm Arcline Investment Management for $525m and also started a £300m share buyback.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,593.34 -0.30%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,983.82 -0.65%
techMARK (TASX) 4,381.68 -0.67%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,721.00p 2.65%
Anglo American (AAL) 4,269.00p 2.41%
Shell (SHEL) 2,230.75p 1.77%
Glencore (GLEN) 534.50p 1.46%
BP (BP.) 405.20p 1.44%
Tesco (TSCO) 269.60p 1.24%
Ferguson (FERG) 10,140.00p 1.20%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,054.00p 0.88%
Fresnillo (FRES) 809.00p 0.62%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 93.99p 0.60%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,884.00p -2.84%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 930.40p -2.68%
Diageo (DGE) 3,859.50p -2.62%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 516.00p -2.42%
Halma (HLMA) 2,462.00p -2.34%
ITV (ITV) 75.24p -2.31%
Croda International (CRDA) 7,434.00p -2.11%
Informa (INF) 605.40p -2.07%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,980.00p -2.01%
Experian (EXPN) 2,685.00p -1.97%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Discoverie Group (DSCV) 843.00p 4.72%
Darktrace (DARK) 381.30p 4.49%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 192.15p 3.89%
Spectris (SXS) 2,611.00p 3.82%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 99.40p 2.22%
Energean (ENOG) 1,254.00p 1.37%
Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 152.00p 1.20%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 525.00p 1.08%
UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 94.40p 1.07%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 210.40p 1.06%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Polymetal International (POLY) 237.00p -6.84%
SSP Group (SSPG) 231.50p -5.36%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 167.20p -3.58%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,005.00p -3.56%
Carnival (CCL) 1,324.00p -3.50%
JTC (JTC) 783.00p -3.45%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 152.60p -3.30%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 185.80p -3.13%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 748.20p -3.03%
Provident Financial (PFG) 266.80p -2.98%