London open: Stocks little changed as miners drop; Macron win digested
London stocks were little changed in early trade, with weaker-than-expected Chinese data hitting the heavily-weighted mining sector as investors digested news that centrist and pro-European candidate Emanuel Macron has won the French presidential election.
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,294.42.
Macron beat far-right rival Marine Le Pen with just under 66% of the vote. With 98% counted, Macron had 20,429,650 votes for 65.8%, double Le Pen’s 10,608,109 votes for 34.2%.
However, reaction to the Macron win was muted, not just in the UK but also in Europe, where the Stoxx 600 and the CAC were both slightly weaker.
Accendo Markets analysts Mike van Dulken said: " The independent centrist’s convincing second-round win over right-wing Marine Le Pen (65% vs 35%) may be a welcome rejection of populist politics, however, the record number of abstentions/blank/spoiled votes, record low turnout and disdain for traditional parties is a sobering reminder of voter fatigue and frustration at the current political offering."
In London, mining stocks were hit by uninspiring data from China, which showed exports rose 14.3% in April from the year before in yuan terms, following a 22.3% jump in March, while imports were up 18.6% compared to a 26.3% increase the month before. Economists had expected a rise of 16.8% and 29.3%, respectively.
Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Randgold,Glencore and Anglo American were all under the cosh.
Corporate news was thin on the ground.
Premier Foods rallied after saying it has renewed its strategic partnership with Mondelez International to produce and market Cadbury-branded cake and ambient dessert products.
Construction and engineering group Costain edged higher after saying current trading was in line with expectations and that it looks forward to reporting on further progress in 2017.
On the downside, British Gas owner Centrica was in the red after it said energy consumption has been lower than expected in the UK and North America so far in 2017 due to warmer than normal weather and that UK wholesale oil, gas and power prices have all fallen since it announced results in February. But the company insisted it remained on track to achieve the 2017 targets set out in its results announcement, including adjusted operating cash flow of at least £2bn.
Numis was trading lower as the broker reported a 38% decline in pre-tax profit for the half year and announced that its founder and chief executive Oliver Hemsley will step down with immediate effect.
BBA Aviation was hit by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Citigroup, which pointed out that the company's trading update for the first four months of the year was slightly behind its expectations.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Conservative party is set to publish its manifesto for the 8 June general election.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,294.42 -0.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,696.81 -0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,544.41 0.00%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Intu Properties (INTU) 272.30p 0.96%
ITV (ITV) 203.50p 0.84%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,119.00p 0.81%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,102.00p 0.72%
British Land Company (BLND) 667.50p 0.68%
Hammerson (HMSO) 591.50p 0.60%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,213.00p 0.59%
BP (BP.) 454.00p 0.59%
Tesco (TSCO) 180.50p 0.59%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,785.00p 0.47%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,008.00p -2.18%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 752.50p -2.15%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,118.00p -1.93%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,926.00p -1.78%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,394.00p -1.76%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 838.50p -1.76%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,760.00p -1.60%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,666.00p -1.07%
Centrica (CNA) 196.60p -1.06%
Glencore (GLEN) 286.05p -1.04%
FTSE 250 - Risers
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,941.00p 900.00%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,073.00p 2.68%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 276.50p 1.65%
IP Group (IPO) 140.70p 1.59%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 336.50p 1.39%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 316.30p 1.18%
Murray International Trust (MYI) 1,237.00p 1.06%
Ibstock (IBST) 229.10p 1.06%
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX) 143.30p 1.06%
SEGRO (SGRO) 493.70p 1.04%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bankers Inv Trust (BNKR) 0.00p -100.00%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 610.00p -2.79%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 238.30p -2.73%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 153.10p -2.73%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 306.90p -2.20%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 438.50p -1.59%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 393.20p -1.43%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 751.50p -1.18%
Evraz (EVR) 204.60p -1.11%
Aggreko (AGK) 849.00p -1.05%