London open: Stocks broadly flat on short trading day before Christmas

The UK market is set to close at 1230 GMT with no notable releases due during the session. The only notable ones are due after the close – the US initial jobless claims report and Japanese data overnight.

UK equities rallied on Wednesday on the last full day of trading before Christmas. Among the biggest risers on the FTSE were oil and gas stocks as Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices surged.

Crude is expected to be a continued focus on Thursday as oil producers continued to advance in morning trade such as Royal Dutch Shell and BP. Brent and WTI rose 1.0% to $37.73 per barrel and 0.7% to $37.77 per barrel, respectively at 0820 GMT.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday said it expected oil prices to recover and will reach $70 per barrel by 2020 as the “need to develop oil production in more expensive areas will drive long-term oil prices higher”.

OPEC also expects to cut its production to 30.6m barrels per day (bpd) in 2019, more than 1m bpd lower than its production of 31.7m bpd in November.

On the company front it is also a quiet day of news with no earnings reports from the FTSE 350.

Polymetal gained after saying it was entering a joint venture with Polyus Gold to develop the Nezhdaninskoye gold deposit in Yakutia, Russia .The deal, in which Polymetal could invest up to $80m (£53.67m), will allow the company to acquire up to 50% in the joint venture through an earn-in mechanism.

Segro climbed after it announced it had exchanged contracts to sell its large portfolio of offices on Bath Road in Slough for £325m.

Mining stocks were on the front foot, including Anglo American and BHP Billiton, as gold prices rose 0.41% on the Comex.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,255.41 0.23%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,407.86 0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,217.01 -0.04%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Mondi (MNDI) 1,357.00p 1.65%
Old Mutual (OML) 181.60p 1.40%
BP (BP.) 364.35p 1.10%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 468.10p 1.08%
Fresnillo (FRES) 720.00p 1.05%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,567.00p 1.03%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,579.50p 0.96%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 785.50p 0.95%
Centrica (CNA) 218.70p 0.88%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 306.80p 0.82%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BT Group (BT.A) 467.60p -1.12%
Kingfisher (KGF) 328.50p -0.64%
Relx plc (REL) 1,175.00p -0.59%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 264.50p -0.56%
Next (NXT) 7,185.00p -0.48%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,527.00p -0.47%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 73.31p -0.46%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,871.00p -0.42%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,229.00p -0.41%
Sky (SKY) 1,103.00p -0.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Synthomer (SYNT) 337.00p 2.65%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 260.00p 2.36%
Rotork (ROR) 187.10p 2.18%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 1,924.00p 2.01%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 180.90p 1.97%
Investec (INVP) 495.00p 1.96%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 326.30p 1.94%
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 116.80p 1.83%
Marshalls (MSLH) 327.70p 1.77%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 223.70p 1.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd Ptg NPV (GSS) 445.00p -2.52%
Grainger (GRI) 235.00p -2.29%
AO World (AO.) 154.90p -2.02%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 402.90p -1.78%
Ted Baker (TED) 3,055.00p -1.67%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,600.00p -1.66%
Laird (LRD) 337.50p -1.60%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 814.50p -1.57%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 175.90p -1.57%
Greggs (GRG) 1,276.00p -1.54%