London midday: FTSE maintains gains but housebuilders hit by broker note

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still in the black by midday on Monday but gains were unspectacular amid a dearth of corporate news and as investors eyed the latest UK and US inflation data this week. The top-flight index was up 0.3% at 7,908.58.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The FTSE 100 defied weak markets in Asia overnight and selling on Wall Street on Friday to trade higher on Monday morning as investors await key US and UK inflation data later this week.

"Back above the 7,900 mark and within striking distance of its recent all-time highs the index continues to build on its gains of recent months, but the confidence that remains is about as fragile as a fine China cup.

"For the time being investors have largely been happy to ride out shocks like unexpectedly strong economic data from the US, good news which could turn out to be bad if it caused the Fed to go back on the offensive with interest rates, however a renewed uptick in prices on both sides of the Atlantic could shatter sentiment.

"The expectation is inflation will have eased slightly when the US and UK report tomorrow and Wednesday respectively."

On the corporate front, there was no FTSE 350 news of note out so broker notes were providing most of the action.

Weir Group and Smiths were high risers after Goldman Sachs reinstated coverage of the stocks at 'buy'.

On the downside, housebuilders slid after a slew of rating downgrades by Deutsche Bank, with Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Crest Nicholson and Redrow all down.

Water companies Severn Trent and Pennon were also in focus after downgrades to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets, while Network International was hit by a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Barclays.

Outside the FTSE 350, Kape Technologies surged after saying it had received a $1.51bn (£1.25bn) takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Teddy Sagi.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,908.58 0.33% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,033.05 0.01% techMARK (TASX) 4,538.77 0.04%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Weir Group (WEIR) 1,841.50p 2.31% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,855.00p 2.02% Unilever (ULVR) 4,213.00p 1.95% Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,783.50p 1.94% BAE Systems (BA.) 864.20p 1.69% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,942.00p 1.68% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,095.50p 1.66% National Grid (NG.) 1,049.00p 1.40% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 108.84p 1.27% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,618.00p 1.15%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Persimmon (PSN) 1,444.50p -3.12% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 118.70p -2.51% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 463.50p -1.88% BT Group (BT.A) 133.90p -1.54% Entain (ENT) 1,295.00p -1.30% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,237.00p -1.28% BP (BP.) 554.00p -1.07% M&G (MNG) 197.15p -1.05% Anglo American (AAL) 3,195.00p -1.02% Vodafone Group (VOD) 91.34p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 82.00p 3.80% Darktrace (DARK) 248.40p 3.76% Mitie Group (MTO) 78.10p 2.09% HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,215.00p 2.07% Molten Ventures (GROW) 386.20p 2.06% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 343.60p 1.90% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 152.00p 1.88% Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 236.80p 1.72% Diploma (DPLM) 2,836.00p 1.65% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 246.80p 1.65%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 231.20p -6.47% 888 Holdings (DI) (888) 65.65p -3.38% Redrow (RDW) 513.00p -3.30% Network International Holdings (NETW) 269.80p -2.95% Bellway (BWY) 2,177.00p -2.81% Tullow Oil (TLW) 34.92p -2.73% Vistry Group (VTY) 766.00p -2.30% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 150.40p -2.02% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 114.40p -1.89% NCC Group (NCC) 186.00p -1.80%