London open: Stocks nudge up after China GDP as investors eye 'Plan B'
London stocks nudged up in early trade on Monday as investors digested uninspiring Chinese growth figures and awaited Theresa May’s presentation of her ‘Plan B’ on Brexit to Commons.
At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 6,974.22, while the pound was down 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2852 and 0.3% lower versus the euro at 1.1298.
Figures out earlier showed that Chinese GDP slowed to 6.4% in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations and representing the slowest rate of growth since the financial crisis. Meanwhile, full year growth was above expectations at 6.6%, which was the softest since 1990.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “That the concerning results of this health check didn’t prompt greater losses is indicative of not only the now-familiar nature of China’s slowdown, but both the lingering optimism surrounding the month’s US-Sino trade talks (aided by comments from Trump on Saturday), and the prospect of some kind of stimulus from Beijing.
“The FTSE, which could have had a terrible morning if its sizeable commodity sector had taken the Chinese data poorly, managed to push 0.1% higher, keeping 7,000 in the conversation.”
Meanwhile, on home shores, Theresa May was due to present her Brexit ‘plan B’ to Commons later in the day. According to reports, she is set to chase Brussels for a solution for the Irish border hold-up that would be more agreeable to Tory rebels and Northern Ireland's DUP rather than try and reach a cross-party consensus.
In corporate news, aerospace engineer Meggitt rose as it had signed a $750m (£582.6m) 10-year deal with US engine maker Pratt & Whitney to continue the supply of advanced composite components for the F119 and F135 engines which power the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
GlaxoSmithKline ticked lower after saying that said chairman Sir Philip Hampton was stepping down and the board had started the process to find a successor.
Just Eat was in the red as it said full year results were going to be ahead of revenue and profit targets but announced that chief executive Peter Plumb is leaving the online takeaway food marketplace little over a year after he started. Chief customer officer Peter Duffy will step in as interim CEO with immediate effect and the search for a permanent replacement has begun.
William Hill was on the back foot as it warned full-year 2018 adjusted operating profit was expected to be about 15% lower than the year before.
Capital & Regional, Hammerson and Shaftesbury were downgraded to neutral at JPMorgan. Hiscox was cut downgraded to ‘underperform’ at KBW, Kingfisher was downgraded to ‘underperform’ at RBC and Rentokil was cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman. Sophos was cut to ‘hold’ at Liberum.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,974.22 0.08%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,763.36 -0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,393.22 -0.03%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 901.20p 1.53%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,202.50p 1.31%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,471.50p 1.27%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,570.25p 1.13%
Evraz (EVR) 471.00p 1.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 624.80p 1.03%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,183.50p 0.98%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 340.20p 0.89%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 328.80p 0.80%
SSE (SSE) 1,142.50p 0.79%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 219.90p -3.04%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 842.80p -1.40%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 351.20p -1.18%
Tesco (TSCO) 222.02p -1.10%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 147.78p -1.04%
BT Group (BT.A) 236.65p -0.94%
Informa (INF) 670.80p -0.80%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 229.10p -0.67%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,619.20p -0.58%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 166.30p -0.54%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Clarkson (CKN) 2,410.00p 1.90%
Card Factory (CARD) 179.50p 1.76%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 186.90p 1.63%
Capita (CPI) 119.40p 1.62%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 116.76p 1.53%
Provident Financial (PFG) 552.40p 1.51%
EI Group (EIG) 205.50p 1.48%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 322.30p 1.35%
Homeserve (HSV) 916.50p 1.27%
Unite Group (UTG) 882.00p 1.15%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hammerson (HMSO) 347.00p -3.05%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,422.00p -2.74%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,350.00p -2.08%
Just Eat (JE.) 645.00p -2.04%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 2,154.00p -1.91%
888 Holdings (888) 169.80p -1.74%
William Hill (WMH) 172.75p -1.73%
Renishaw (RSW) 4,188.00p -1.51%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 258.87p -1.38%
CYBG (CYBG) 192.40p -1.28%