London open: Stocks flat amid US government shutdown; bookies drop
London stocks were flat in early trade on Monday as investors mulled the US government shutdown and sifted through a raft of corporate news, with bookmakers under pressure.
At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was steady at 7,732.99, while the pound was up 0.3% versus the dollar at 1.3892 and 0.1% firmer against the euro at 1.1349.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "A barebones economic calendar, with only the start of the Davos meeting to tide investors over, led to a muted open this Monday.
"It’s an inauspicious start to what is actually a very packed week, one that not only brings the alpine political moving and shaking of the World Economic Forum, but an ECB get-together that the euro will be hoping builds on December’s hawkish meeting minutes, the latest UK jobs report and, on Friday, the first glimpse at the UK and US Q4 GDP readings."
The US government shutdown was the main focus as a Sunday session of the Senate failed to yield any kind of agreement between the Democrats and Republicans, after lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill by the deadline last Friday.
With a vote to end the shutdown postponed until 1700 GMT on Monday, many federal government offices will remain shut.
In corporate news, bookies William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral, and GVC Holdings were all sharply lower following reports over the weekend that the UK is set to announce a new £2 maximum stake on high stakes gaming machines.
GKN was a touch lower. Having rejected a £7bn hostile bid from Melrose Industries last week, the engineer sought to highlight its potential as a standalone entity, lifted sales forecasts for its electric driveline business in 2020 to £275m from a previous forecasts of £200m.
Going the other way, however, Ocado surged after signing its second major international customer less than two months after the first, with a contract to build a customer fulfilment centre for Canada's second largest supermarket group.
Smiths Group edged up as it has agreed to sell its John Crane's Bearings business to private Austrian company Miba AG for an enterprise value of $35m.
UAE-based private healthcare operator NMC Health was in the black after announcing two earnings-accretive acquisitions in the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
FTSE 100 catering company Compass was higher after it said that changes to the US tax system will cut its effective tax rate from 26.5% to around 24%.
Dixons Carphone was on the front foot after it narrowed its full-year profit guidance and reported a 4% jump in year-on-year for the 10 weeks to 6 January, as it announced the appointment of Alex Baldock as its new chief executive.
Kier Group advanced after saying it has taken over the HS2 and Highways England smart motorway projects from collapsed Carillion and announcing other contract wins.
Computacenter also gained after saying 2017 adjusted pre-tax results are likely to beat analysts' expectations.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,732.99 0.03%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,634.33 -0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 3,520.24 0.11%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,520.50p 1.72%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,316.00p 1.10%
Barclays (BARC) 202.25p 0.87%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 305.80p 0.59%
Pearson (PSON) 692.00p 0.58%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,605.50p 0.56%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,535.50p 0.56%
Kingfisher (KGF) 337.90p 0.54%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,639.00p 0.46%
BP (BP.) 512.00p 0.41%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Relx plc (REL) 1,589.75p -3.45%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,235.00p -2.54%
Carnival (CCL) 4,916.70p -1.17%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 313.10p -0.95%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,136.00p -0.84%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 885.60p -0.81%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,723.00p -0.75%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,976.00p -0.72%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,603.80p -0.62%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 783.70p -0.60%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 453.10p 9.71%
Indivior (INDV) 430.02p 7.24%
Dignity (DTY) 1,000.00p 3.95%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,008.00p 3.65%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 550.00p 3.38%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 485.00p 2.32%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 239.50p 1.91%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 259.80p 1.88%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,012.00p 1.81%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 190.30p 1.76%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
William Hill (WMH) 292.00p -13.17%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 159.40p -12.63%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 891.10p -5.00%
IMI (IMI) 1,372.00p -2.49%
CYBG (CYBG) 325.80p -2.46%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 240.50p -1.80%
Cobham (COB) 133.20p -1.66%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 135.91p -1.38%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 340.90p -1.30%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 508.15p -1.04%