London open: Stocks edge lower as sterling rises on Brexit day

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,371.09.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell pointed to the fact that losses were not heavy given the World Health Organisation’s declaration late on Thursday that the coronavirus is now a global health emergency. He said said sentiment had been "lifted somewhat by a better-than-forecast Chinese services PMI,” which rose to 54.1 in from 53.5 in December.

The size of the FTSE’s decline means "it can be can be pinned on the pound’s own gains, rather than a fresh bout of coronavirus concerns," he said.

"Despite Friday being Brexit day, the UK leaving the EU around three years, seven months and one week on from the original referendum, sterling was in a very good mood.

"Still riding high from the fact the Bank of England didn’t cut rates on Thursday, while perhaps expressing some relief that Britain can move onto the more important trade negotiations part of Brexit, the pound added 0.4% against the dollar and 0.5% against the euro."

Meanwhile, the latest GfK survey showed a slight improvement in consumer confidence in January, with sentiment lifted after the general election.

GfK’s consumer confidence index rose to -9 from -11 in December, meeting analysts’ expectations. Four out of the five confidence measures increased.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said the first month of 2020 had given us "a mini Boris bounce".

"While January marks four years of the Index failing to penetrate positive territory, we now have two consecutive months of improvement. This is good news. The latest measures concerning our personal financial situation for the last and next 12 months are encouragingly healthy and positive, as is the improvement in our view of the wider economic picture for the UK. This is linked to the uptick in the jobs and housing markets, coupled with low headline inflation and interest rates.

"The major purchase index is the only measure to decline this month, reflecting January’s seasonal post-Christmas empty-wallet feeling, and further impacting the longer-term contraction and sluggishness experienced across the retail sector. However, if current trends continue, we’d expect a return to positive headline scores soon. Are we are finally seeing an end to the UK’s jittery consumer mood?"

In equity markets, Hargreaves Lansdown was in the red as it posted a rise in interim pre-tax profit but a decline in net new business.

Investec was a little weaker after saying it intended to float its asset management business, now called Ninety One. The company said it would proceed with an initial public offering subject to shareholders approving a demerger of the business in a vote on February 10.

Senior suffered heavy losses after the engineering group, which supplies parts for Boeing's grounded 737 MAX, said full-year aerospace revenue would be lower as production of the troubled aircraft remained halted.

Ferrexpo was also down as it said that a Ukrainian court had a put a restriction on the sale of 50.3% of its Swiss unit’s shareholding in Ferrexpo Poltava Mining.

On the upside, shares of Aston Martin rallied after it said that a consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll will inject £182m into the company in return for a 16.7% stake. In addition, the luxury car maker will launch a £318m rights issue at £4 per share after the release of its 2019 preliminary results.

Britvic gained as the drinks maker said it was confident of meeting market expectations for the year after a "robust" first quarter, during which revenue rose 4.9%.

Travel-related stocks were on the front foot, with InterContinental, easyJet and Carnival all higher following recent losses on the back of worries about the impact of the coronavirus.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,371.09 -0.15%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,409.57 0.55%
techMARK (TASX) 4,167.74 0.07%

FTSE 100 - Risers

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,793.00p 2.71%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,322.00p 2.60%
Carnival (CCL) 3,231.00p 1.99%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,415.50p 1.98%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 311.00p 1.73%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 206.60p 1.62%
Pearson (PSON) 574.80p 1.59%
BT Group (BT.A) 164.88p 1.53%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 580.20p 1.36%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 589.50p 1.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,794.50p -4.52%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,855.00p -1.09%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 642.60p -1.08%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,816.50p -1.01%
Diageo (DGE) 2,998.50p -1.01%
Next (NXT) 6,964.00p -0.94%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,882.50p -0.89%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,458.00p -0.76%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 558.80p -0.75%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,031.50p -0.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 514.80p 27.84%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 150.00p 4.82%
Britvic (BVIC) 914.00p 4.34%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 118.00p 4.06%
Avast (AVST) 409.80p 3.75%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 315.00p 3.28%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,080.00p 3.25%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 138.80p 3.12%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,035.00p 2.78%
AJ Bell (AJB) 400.50p 2.43%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Senior (SNR) 157.80p -5.51%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 136.65p -2.67%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 188.20p -1.77%
Renishaw (RSW) 4,018.00p -1.71%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 371.90p -1.64%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 172.30p -1.54%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 166.10p -1.54%
Fresnillo (FRES) 640.40p -1.48%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 725.00p -1.09%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,164.00p -0.94%