London open: Stocks in the black ahead of services data
Equity markets in London edged higher in early trade with the help of some well-received corporate news and a strong showing in the commodity sector, as investors eyed key services data.
At 0825 BST on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% to 7,350.41, while the pound was flat at $1.2445.
There was lots of pressure on the services purchasing managers' index reading later in the morning, said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
"Both the construction and, especially, manufacturing PMIs underperformed expectations, suggesting that, after showing resilience in the post-Brexit third and fourth quarters of 2016, UK growth may be slowing down," Campbell said.
"That heaps a lot of pressure on this morning’s services reading, pressure that is only heightened by how reliant the UK economy is on the sector. Analysts are forecasting a slight increase, from 53.3 to 53.5 month-on-month, though such estimates have been wrong twice this week, so there is no reason we won’t see a hat-trick of disappointments."
Markit's services PMI is at 0930 BST. In the US, the ADP employment report is at 1315 BST, while Markit's services PMI is at 1445 BST and ISM non-manufacturing is at 1500 BST.
After the London close, investors will be looking out for the latest FOMC minutes at 1900 BST. They will also be eyeing a meeting between Donald Trump and China premier Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Miners and oil stocks were the standout gainers on the FTSE 100, led by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Energy shares were boosted by a rise in oil prices after the American Petroleum Institute reported a draw of 1.8m barrels in US crude oil inventories last week, versus expectations of a 435,000 draw.
Galliford Try gained ground as it said it has abandoned its plans to make a formal bid for rival housebuilder Bovis Homes, a week after Redrow threw the towel in.
Meanwhile, Bovis Homes advanced after it announced the appointment of former Galliford boss Greg Fitzgerald as its new chief executive, which sent its shares higher.
Wood Group rallied as it said it had found another £40m in annual savings as part of the £2.2bn agreed merger with rival outfit Amec Foster Wheeler.
Design, engineering and project management consultancy WS Atkins pushed higher after saying it would pay £34.5m into its pension fund in the current financial year after it revealed a deficit of £318m.
Shares in Irish services group DCC rose after it agreed to buy Royal Dutch Shell's liquefied petroleum gas business in Hong Kong and Macau for about £120m, subject to regulatory consent.
Medical technology company ConvaTec edged up as it announced the US launch of ‘Foam Lite’ ConvaTec dressing on Wednesday, which it described as a light, flexible silicone foam dressing for managing low to non-exuding chronic and acute wounds.
Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone slumped after it bumped up its interim dividend 80% but reported a 42% drop in underlying profits for the first half of the year.
Allied Minds tumbled after saying it will discontinue funding at seven subsidiaries for which it expects to write down the value in its 2016 results.
Croda International was under the cosh after Credit Suisse downgraded it to 'underperform' from 'neutral', while Petrofac was hit by a downgrade at Bernstein.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,350.41 0.39%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,060.97 0.21%
techMARK (TASX) 3,441.12 0.00%
FTSE 100 - Risers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,293.00p 2.99%
DCC (DCC) 7,205.00p 2.64%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,335.00p 2.16%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 857.00p 2.02%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,260.50p 1.78%
Glencore (GLEN) 325.40p 1.62%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,224.50p 1.48%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,128.50p 1.38%
BP (BP.) 469.20p 1.20%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,220.00p 1.05%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Croda International (CRDA) 3,523.00p -2.57%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,713.00p -0.82%
Experian (EXPN) 1,607.00p -0.80%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,916.00p -0.79%
Old Mutual (OML) 197.40p -0.65%
GKN (GKN) 357.40p -0.53%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 346.30p -0.49%
Carnival (CCL) 4,581.00p -0.43%
Prudential (PRU) 1,666.00p -0.36%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 245.00p -0.33%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 794.00p 4.34%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 555.50p 4.22%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 482.60p 3.99%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 835.00p 3.47%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 872.50p 3.07%
Evraz (EVR) 234.90p 2.98%
Hunting (HTG) 572.00p 2.60%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 233.50p 2.23%
Marshalls (MSLH) 367.10p 2.11%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,485.00p 1.57%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Allied Minds (ALM) 215.00p -17.62%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 893.50p -3.20%
Assura (AGR) 57.05p -2.81%
IP Group (IPO) 147.50p -2.32%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 181.20p -2.05%
Carillion (CLLN) 216.70p -1.28%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 328.40p -1.02%
Rank Group (RNK) 207.30p -0.96%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,651.00p -0.90%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,665.00p -0.89%