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London open: Stocks dip down in quiet start to busy week
London stocks nudged lower in early trade amid a lack of market-moving news, with the economic calendar set to get busier later in the week.
At 0855 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,514.55, while the pound was flat against the dollar at 1.3190 and up 0.2% versus the euro at 1.1217.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “UK and US Q3 GDP readings! The latest ECB rate vote and press conference! A slew of manufacturing and services PMIs! There’s so much stuff to look forward to this week – sadly none of it is today, with the markets having little reason to crawl out of bed this Monday.”
On the data front, the CBI industrial trends survey is at 1100 BST, while third-quarter UK GDP is due out on Wednesday.
In corporate news, Spire Healthcare surged after rejecting a cash-and-shares offer from South Africa’s Mediclinic International. Mediclinic, which already owns a 29.9% stake in its FTSE 250 peer, offered 150p cash and 0.232 new shares for each Spire share, which equated to an offer valued at 298.6p per share.
GKN racked up strong gains following a Sunday Times report that the company is looking to split its aerospace and auto operations and as Liberum upgraded the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’.
Waste-to-product business Renewi surged after saying results for the year are expected to be “significantly above” its previous expectations following a particularly strong performance in September.
Electra Private Equity rallied as it said that after completing a strategic review, it has decided “current market conditions do not support new investment” and so proposed handing back most of its cash and dropping its focus on private equity to become “more flexible”.
AstraZeneca advanced after the FDA approved a new formulation of its type-2 diabetes treatment Bydureon and as it and Merck & Co submitted a new drug application to Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency for the use of Lynparza tablets in unresectable or recurrent BRCA-mutated breast cancer.
GlaxoSmithKline was flat as it said that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Shingrix for the prevention of shingles in adults over 50.
CRH was in the black after getting approval from Ash Grove Cement shareholders for its $3.5bn acquisition of the US cement manufacturer.
Essentra gained after saying trading in the third quarter showed modest like-for-like revenue growth for the overall group.
On the downside, Capita edged lower after confirming that the sale of its Asset Services businesses to Link Administration should complete a week on Friday.
Auto Trader and Inchcape declined after peer Pendragon warned that full-year profit will be hit by weaker new car demand and pricing on used cars. Pendragon shares tanked 20% on the warning.
