London open: Stocks and sterling steady ahead of jobs data
London stocks were steady in early trade on Tuesday as investors refrained from making any big bets either way ahead of key UK jobs data.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,710.95, while the pound was down 0.1% against the euro at 1.1355 and flat versus the dollar at 1.3553 ahead of the UK unemployment rate, average earnings and the claimant count rate that will be published by the Office for National Statistics at 0930 BST.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said the pound was as reticent as the FTSE for good reason. "That’s because the average earnings index for the three months to the end of March, including bonuses, is set to slip from 2.8% to 2.7%; higher than the 2.5% inflation reading from March, and a crucial boost to real wages, but not exactly the hawkish direction the pound wants to see things moving in.
Campbell said the forecast is for underlying wage growth to hit 2.9%, so currency traders could be selective in what data they focus on.
Investors were also digesting the latest data out of China, which showed industrial production was better than expected in April, although investment slowed. Industrial output was up 7% compared to a year earlier, versus expectations for a 6.4% rise, while retail sales expanded by 9.4%, undershooting expectations for a 10% jump. Fixed-asset investment was up 7% on the year in the first four months, compared to an estimated 7.4%.
This saw London's miners slip lower, led by Anglo American and Glencore.
In other corporate moves, budget airline EasyJet flew higher after saying that losses narrowed in the first half as revenues surged nearly 20% to over £2bn for the first time, with the company benefiting from the collapse of Monarch and Air Berlin and troubles at Ryanair.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey gained after saying it plans to bump up its dividend payout, while Hargreaves Lansdown ticked higher as the financial services group reported a 3.1% jump in assets under administration in the four months to 30 April.
Ascential edged up as the FTSE 250 specialist information company agreed to sell its exhibitions business to ITE Group for £300m in cash.
Cairn Energy rallied on the back of an upbeat AGM statement, in which it said 2018 is set to be just as active as the previous year.
Grainger was just a smidge higher as the residential landlord agreed to buy a 261-home private rented sector build to rent development in Milton Keynes.
On the downside, Vodafone was the worst performer after saying that Vittorio Colao will step down in October after 10 years in the job. The mobile phone operator also announced a 40% rise in full-year pre-tax profit to €3.9bn.
International marketing and support services group DCC was in the red even as it said that full year pre-tax profits rose 26.6% to £316.4m as revenues increased 16.3% to £14.2bn.
Land Securities fell as the property developer reported a small drop in full-year adjusted net asset value per share and said it has appointed Cressida Hogg as its new chairwoman.
BTG lost ground even as it posted 9% growth in annual revenue and an 18% jump in adjusted operating product, while Spirax-Sarco Engineering slipped after saying that a stronger pound could dent its annual sales and profits by 3% to 5%.
In broker note action, Sainsburys was cut to 'underperform' from 'neutral' by Exane BNP Paribas while Petrofac was downgraded to 'hold' at Kepler Cheuvreux and Indivior was cut to 'neutral' at Citi.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,710.95 -0.00%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,822.26 0.10%
techMARK (TASX) 3,485.32 -0.53%
FTSE 100 - Risers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,728.95p 2.61%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 199.50p 2.26%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,610.00p 1.52%
Evraz (EVR) 508.20p 1.19%
Royal Mail (RMG) 621.00p 1.17%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,895.00p 1.07%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,181.00p 1.06%
Ferguson (FERG) 5,700.00p 0.88%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 558.00p 0.87%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,789.00p 0.83%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 197.72p -4.58%
BT Group (BT.A) 208.50p -1.56%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,815.20p -1.39%
DCC (DCC) 7,140.00p -1.11%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 958.70p -1.03%
Glencore (GLEN) 381.90p -0.86%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,910.66p -0.81%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,104.50p -0.80%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,566.00p -0.72%
Experian (EXPN) 1,704.50p -0.61%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Contour Global (GLO) 252.00p 3.28%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 312.25p 2.31%
FirstGroup (FGP) 112.00p 2.19%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 421.28p 2.10%
Hunting (HTG) 881.00p 2.09%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 245.40p 2.08%
Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 366.50p 1.95%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,784.00p 1.94%
Coats Group (COA) 78.90p 1.81%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 278.88p 1.78%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
BTG (BTG) 643.00p -2.94%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,244.00p -2.05%
888 Holdings (888) 306.20p -1.86%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 389.97p -1.52%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 631.00p -1.50%
Provident Financial (PFG) 656.20p -1.38%
Indivior (INDV) 451.60p -1.33%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 348.00p -1.33%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 243.80p -1.30%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,000.00p -1.19%