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London open: Stocks fall as oil prices reverse gains
London stocks fell on Wednesday as oil prices reversed gains in the previous session and as investors awaited industrial and manufacturing data.
Oil prices fell as Canadian oil sand production was expected to gradually ramp up following forced closures due to wildfires. Brent crude dropped 1.3% to $44.91 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate declined 1.3% to $44.05 per barrel at 0907 BST.
A report on weekly US crude inventories at 1530 BST from the Department of Energy will be closely scrutinised.
Data on industrial and manufacturing production at 0930 BST will also be in focus amid concerns about the health of the industry.
It is an otherwise quiet day of news on the economic data front.
In company news, Barratt Developments slumped despite saying it improved its sales rate in the 19 weeks since the start of the year and confirmed market conditions remained “strong”.
Analyst Charlie Huggins at Hargreaves Lansdown noted that shares in housebuilders have been down of late, as measures such as price-to-book and cyclically adjusted price to earnings, mean the sector looking is trading at high valuations relative to history, meaning it could be vulnerable should the housing market slow.
Experian was in the red after reporting a 4% drop in revenue in the year to 31 March due to foreign exchange headwinds.
Meanwhile, mining stocks recovered with Randgold Resources, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Fresnillo topping the FTSE 100 as metal prices gained.
