London close: Stocks end flat; miners in the red

(Sharecast News) - London stocks ended flat on Thursday, with miners under pressure, as investors waded through a raft of corporate news. The FTSE 100 closed unchanged at 7,902.61.

Stocks had been trading a little lower for most of the day, with sentiment knocked by disappointing results from Tesla.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "As yet, however, the market refuses to turn substantially lower - dip buyers have been content to step in over the past few sessions, even if they haven't yet found the strength to push indices to fresh monthly highs."

In equity markets, miners were on the back foot, with Antofagasta, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all down as metals prices fell.

Rio Tinto was also in focus after it reported record first-quarter iron ore shipments from its Plibara operations in Western Australia as China ramped up steel production, but cut copper output guidance due to issues at its US Kennecott and Chilean Escondida operations.

Antofagasta was trading ex-dividend, along with Vistry, Vesuvius and Vivendum.

Elsewhere, WH Smith fell even as the retailer hailed a "strong" first-half performance, ahead of its expectations, as the travel segment benefited from a significant recovery in passenger numbers.

On the upside, real estate investment trust Segro gained after saying 2023 had got off to strong start, boosted by solid occupier demand and limited supply.

Consumer healthcare giant Haleon rose as it posted first-quarter sales ahead of expectations, underpinned by a strong cold and flu season.

Investment platform operator AJ Bell closed up even as it said that inflows had decreased in the three months ended 31 March despite seeing customer numbers grow during the period.

Direct Line was lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies, which pointed to an improving market outlook and depressed valuation.