London open: Stocks muted as investors mull Trump-Kim meeting; jobs data eyed
London stocks were muted in early trade on Tuesday despite a seemingly successful US-North Korea summit in Singapore, as investors awaited the release of key UK jobs data.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% at 7,742.41, while the pound was down 0.1% against the euro at 1.1344 and flat versus the dollar at 1.3377.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un signed a "comprehensive" document confirming that North Korea will begin dismantling its nuclear capabilities "very quickly", the US president said at a ceremony that followed a morning of negotiations. Kim said "we are leaving the past behind us" as he said "the world will see a major change".
But Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said investors were likely to have been left feeling "unimpressed by the flimsiness of the agreement" struck between Kim and Trump.
"The relative lack of reaction to the US/North Korea situation means the UK jobs report may end up defining Tuesday, dependent on what kind of updates the market gets on the latest Commons Brexit vote," he said.
"Worryingly for the pound, which already took a knock following Monday’s manufacturing mishap, wage growth for the quarter to April is set to slip to 2.5%, completely undoing the progress made in the last few months. An unchanged unemployment rate and a fall in jobless claims likely won’t matter in the face of that average earnings index regression."
UK unemployment, claimant count and average earnings are due to be reported by the Office for National Statistics at 0930 BST, while US inflation figures are at 1330 BST.
The House of Commons will also begin debating the 15 amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill rejected by the Lords, with Prime Minister Theresa May having negotiated a compromise overnight with Tory party rebels over arrangements for a post-Brexit customs union.
In company news, British American Tobacco edged higher after saying it was trading in line with expectations but that profit would be affected by significant currency fluctuations.
Halma was also firmer as it posted a 9% increase in fiscal 2018 pre-tax profit and said revenue exceeded £1bn for the first time.
Randgold Resources ticked up as it said it has nearly completed the feasibility study for its Massawa gold project in Senegal.
AstraZeneca was a touch weaker after announcing that it and partner Eli Lilly are discontinuing the global Phase III clinical trials of lanabecestat, which is an oral beta secretase cleaving enzyme inhibitor for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Fashion brand Ted Baker was in the red even as it posted a 4.2% jump in group revenue for the 19 weeks to 9 June despite unseasonal weather across Europe and the East Coast of America and still-challenging external trading conditions across many of its global markets.
Acacia Mining lost its shine after the gold miner announced a fatal accident involving an operator for one of its contractors at North Mara, while Rio Tinto fell after it appointed Jakob Stausholm, who recently stepped down as CFO of shipping group AP Moller-Maersk, as its new chief financial officer.
Workspace was steady after saying it has been given planning consents for sites in Farringdon and Bermondsey.
Housebuilder Crest Nicholson slumped as it reported a 2% drop in half-year pre-tax profit and warned that margins for the year would come in towards the lower end of its guidance range, squeezed by cost pressures.
Fellow housebuilder Bellway was also on the back foot despite saying it was on track for strong earnings growth this year and predicting record annual sales of more than 10,000 homes.
Domino's Pizza retreated after it announced that chief financial officer Rachel Osborne had left the group a day earlier.
On the broker note front, Centrica was sitting pretty at the top of the FTSE 100 leader board, boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Jefferies, while IMI rallied on the back of an upgrade to 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley.
Rotork and Tate & Lyle both retreated after downgrades by Morgan Stanley and Kepler Cheuvreux, respectively.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,742.41 0.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,319.66 0.00%
techMARK (TASX) 3,558.44 0.25%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Centrica (CNA) 147.80p 2.21%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 555.20p 2.13%
Halma (HLMA) 1,444.00p 1.55%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,627.00p 1.51%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 301.10p 1.14%
Kingfisher (KGF) 308.00p 1.08%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,780.50p 0.91%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,799.00p 0.90%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 533.87p 0.82%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,022.50p 0.71%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,884.50p -1.59%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 574.60p -0.76%
Old Mutual (OML) 216.80p -0.64%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,278.00p -0.63%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 350.30p -0.54%
3i Group (III) 971.60p -0.53%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 353.61p -0.53%
SEGRO (SGRO) 668.20p -0.48%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,847.00p -0.45%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,399.00p -0.45%
FTSE 250 - Risers
IMI (IMI) 1,218.00p 3.75%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,438.00p 3.30%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,641.00p 1.80%
Hunting (HTG) 829.00p 1.78%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 199.00p 1.53%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 1,090.00p 1.30%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 234.50p 1.30%
Greencore Group (GNC) 186.80p 1.27%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,124.00p 1.17%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 343.80p 1.12%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 422.40p -5.33%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 371.30p -3.63%
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA) 198.63p -3.11%
Rotork (ROR) 329.00p -2.66%
Renewi (RWI) 83.90p -1.87%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 667.80p -1.65%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,480.00p -1.39%
Bellway (BWY) 3,363.00p -1.35%
Pennon Group (PNN) 785.80p -1.28%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 196.80p -1.25%