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London open: Stocks flat after busy week; Aldermore rallies
London stocks were flat in early trade on Monday as investors paused for breath after an eventful week.
At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,558.68, while the pound was up 0.1% against the euro and the dollar at 1.1280 and 1.3089, respectively.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “After a bombardment of news – including a Fed statement, dovish Bank of England rate hike and mixed US non-farm jobs report – investors may struggle to scrape together anything of note in the first full week of November.
“Befitting a tame economic calendar, the markets have gotten off to an achingly slow start. The FTSE opened flat, just a smidge below 7560, meaning with a bit of luck it could find itself to a fresh all-time high at some point this week. A decent smattering of gains in the commodity sector, specifically the miners, is helping prop the UK index up, following a 1.2% jump from copper.
“As for the pound, it is continuing to show little interest in recovering last week’s post-BoE losses.”
In corporate news, challenger bank Aldermore rose after it recommended a bid from South Africa’s First Rand bank, as well as reporting 12% growth in net loans by the end of the third quarter.
Rio Tinto advanced as it appointed Simon Trott to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer as it reinforces its focus on driving value across the business from mine to market.
Mitie and Tate & Lyle were boosted by upgrades at Jefferies and Investec, respectively, while GKN was up after Investec lifted the stock to ‘buy’.
Plastics maker Synthomer fell after it said sales volumes in the third quarter remained flat on last year and that it continued to hunt for acquisition opportunities.
EasyJet flew lower despite reporting a 9.9% jump in passenger numbers for October as the load factor ticked higher, but Wizz Air fared much better after its October traffic stats.
Redefine was in the red after announcing the successful exchange of contracts with Patrizia Immobilien AG for the sale of a German supermarket portfolio, with completion anticipated to take place in December 2017.
Morgan Advanced Materials retreated despite saying it is trading in line with its expectations as it reaffirmed its outlook for the full year.
Healthcare company BTG was weaker as it said it will pay a £55.3m provision after the final ruling in its patent dispute with WellStat Therapeutics went against the company.
IWG was hit by a downgrade to ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
