London open: FTSE little changed amid China-US tensions; BP gushes higher

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were little changed in early trade on Tuesday amid tensions between the US and China, but BP was a bright spot after well-received second-quarter results. At 0920 BST, the FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% at 7,416.90.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "There's plenty of disquiet about Nancy Pelosi's rumoured visit to Taiwan. Asian markets fell around 1-2% overnight. It's really quite hard to read too much into this mooted visit by the Speaker of the House of Representatives - the war of words between the US and China is likely to be spicy but unlikely to be material.

"Longer term, we simply don't know how Beijing will respond; for today it's a case of muscle flexing: buzzing the skies with jets, military drills and even firing the odd missile. Ultimately the worry is that tensions becoming inflamed enough for Beijing to use this as the pretext it seeks to invade? I'm not an Asian policy expert so I will leave that to those in the know; for traders I would simply urge you to play what's in front of you."

In equity markets, BP jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after the oil giant said underlying cost replacement profit rose to $8.45bn in the second quarter from $6.25m in the first, coming in well ahead of analysts' expectations of $6.8bn. This was driven by strong realised refining margins, a continuing "exceptional" oil trading performance and higher liquids realisations.

Elementis rallied as it said its full-year performance was set to be towards the top end of consensus expectations as it hailed good demand.

High Street bakery chain Greggs gained as it reported a 22.4% rise in like-for-like sales for the half-year as trading normalised after the lifting of Covid restrictions.

Biffa and Rotork were also trading higher after results.

On the downside, Fresnillo lost its shine after the precious metals miner posted a decline in interim profits mainly due to lower gold volumes sold and a drop in silver prices.

Synthomer lost ground after it reported a fall in interim pre-tax profit but struck a confident note on the outlook as it said all businesses had grown apart from the elastomers segment.

Travis Perkins was under the cosh after the DIY retailer said its Toolstation business swung to a loss in the first half as the pandemic boost faded.

Man Group and Domino's were also in the red after half-year results.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,416.90 0.05% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,916.77 -0.81% techMARK (TASX) 4,336.48 -0.44%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BP (BP.) 407.70p 3.91% Pearson (PSON) 874.60p 2.58% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,306.50p 2.37% BAE Systems (BA.) 800.00p 1.65% Centrica (CNA) 90.12p 1.49% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,838.50p 1.46% National Grid (NG.) 1,133.00p 1.25% Shell (SHEL) 2,161.00p 1.17% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,105.50p 0.77% Mondi (MNDI) 1,574.00p 0.70%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 700.80p -3.76% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 819.60p -3.19% Abrdn (ABDN) 160.85p -3.07% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 660.20p -2.88% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 124.50p -2.73% Aveva Group (AVV) 2,282.00p -2.69% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 492.40p -2.61% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,626.00p -2.53% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,194.00p -2.42% Kingfisher (KGF) 253.00p -2.32%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Elementis (ELM) 117.00p 6.85% Biffa (BIFF) 383.60p 6.32% Rotork (ROR) 267.80p 3.80% Tullow Oil (TLW) 51.15p 2.30% Greggs (GRG) 2,122.00p 2.12% Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 499.00p 1.84% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 286.60p 1.42% National Express Group (NEX) 187.00p 1.41% Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,683.00p 1.20% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 394.60p 1.18%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Synthomer (SYNT) 215.00p -8.51% Travis Perkins (TPK) 948.20p -7.94% Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 96.10p -6.15% Man Group (EMG) 252.10p -5.86% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 278.00p -4.40% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 474.00p -3.99% Coats Group (COA) 71.80p -3.75% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 246.80p -3.37% Currys (CURY) 66.20p -3.22% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 241.50p -3.21%