London open: Stocks edge higher; L&G in the red

At 0845 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 6,741.01.

Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday after the Fed announced an emergency rate cut - its first since the financial crisis in 2008 - to help counter the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "After a tricky session on Tuesday, one that saw the Federal Reserve provoke the opposite intended effect with its impromptu rate cut, Wednesday got off to a comparatively calm start.

It can be hard to tell what news investors are going to glom onto. For example, China’s Caixin services PMI plunged from 51.8 to 26.5 month-on-month, a level last seen during the financial crisis. Yet at the same time overnight the World Bank pledged $12 billion to combat the coronavirus, another injection of stimulus following a rate-slashing Fed on Tuesday and Australia’s cash rate cut on Monday."

Campbell said "the positive headlines just about won out after the bell".

In equity markets, packaging company DS Smith was a high riser as it said its third quarter had continued to progress "well" despite macroeconomic uncertainty, with corrugated box volume growth up in the second half of the year. Peers Smurfit Kappa and Mondi also racked up healthy gains.

BHP was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan and Rio Tinto was up after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Societe Generale.

Hill & Smith and Elementis were both trading up after well-received results, while Sirius Minerals surged after its shareholders voted on Tuesday in favour of Anglo American's £405m takeover, safeguarding its North Yorkshire polyhalite project.

On the downside, British Airways parent IAG, travel company TUI, budget airline easyJet and InterContinental Hotels were all weaker as worries about the impact of the coronavirus continued to weigh on the travel and leisure sector.

Legal & General was on the back foot despite posting a better-than-expected rise in full-year operating profit.

Vivo Energy lost ground even as it reported a jump in full-year earnings as revenue grew, mainly thanks to the contribution from its Engen-branded markets.

Outside the FTSE 350, shares of shopping centre owner Intu Properties tumbled after it said it was unable to proceed with a £1bn to £1.5bn equity raising due to "the current uncertainty in equity markets".

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,741.01 0.34%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,669.83 -0.07%
techMARK (TASX) 3,846.43 0.12%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,935.00p 2.97%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 329.70p 2.23%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,738.00p 2.01%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,940.20p 1.95%
Glencore (GLEN) 194.98p 1.94%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 793.40p 1.90%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,641.50p 1.89%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,489.80p 1.85%
Evraz (EVR) 335.90p 1.60%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,632.00p 1.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 451.20p -2.84%
M&G (MNG) 199.10p -1.73%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,496.50p -1.51%
British Land Company (BLND) 497.70p -1.29%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,058.00p -1.12%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,226.50p -1.11%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.14p -1.10%
Informa (INF) 648.40p -1.04%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 168.75p -1.00%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,384.00p -1.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sirius Minerals (SXX) 5.48p 17.24%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,447.00p 5.16%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 167.50p 4.04%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,582.00p 3.40%
Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 610.00p 3.39%
Temple Bar Inv Trust (TMPL) 1,244.00p 2.81%
Elementis (ELM) 100.90p 2.80%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 292.00p 2.46%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 971.80p 2.29%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 1,414.00p 2.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Finablr (FIN) 48.84p -4.05%
Hammerson (HMSO) 194.10p -3.29%
Ibstock (IBST) 244.20p -3.25%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 101.00p -2.88%
Signature Aviation (SIG) 277.00p -2.22%
Fresnillo (FRES) 636.80p -2.00%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 96.40p -1.93%
Bellway (BWY) 3,712.00p -1.90%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 993.00p -1.88%
Man Group (EMG) 147.60p -1.80%