London open: Miners pace gains ahead of busy week

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, with miners pacing the advance as investors looked ahead to a busy week. At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,528.44.

UK unemployment figures are out on Tuesday, while on Wednesday and Thursday, the latest US inflation data and a rate announcement by the European Central Bank are due.

Data released earlier by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that headline consumer price inflation ticked up 0.1% in August from a year earlier following a 0.3% decline in July. Core inflation - which excludes food and fuel prices - was unchanged at 0.8%.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "The uptick this month was largely driven by a smaller drag from energy prices - a negative contribution of 0.1pp versus 0.4pp in July - thanks to rising oil prices recently and a more favourable carryover effect.

"Petrol prices fell at a much slower pace at 4.9% versus a fall of 13.5% in the previous month."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were the standout gainers, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Glencore all up. Metals prices were boosted by the Chinese inflation data and figures showing that China's new bank loans rose more-than-expected in August.

Housebuilder Vistry surged after saying it plans to merge its housebuilding operations with its partnerships business by the end of the year as it set new medium-term earnings targets.

The UK home builder said it was now aiming for return on capital employed of 40%, revenue growth of 5-8% a year and operating profit of £800m with an operating margin of at least 12%. Vistry posted an 8.4% fall in adjusted half-year pre-tax profits to £174m amid a tough housing market where prices have been falling in response to higher mortgage costs.

GSK rose as it announced that Japanese regulators are reviewing its proposed new momelotnib treatment for people with myelofibrosis - a type of blood cancer.

Melrose Industries was hit by a downgrade to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' by RBC Capital Markets.

It said the fundamentals remain very supportive, with the business growing well and that it expects further earnings upgrades. However, this is all "known" now, and even the earnings per share upgrade potential may not surprise the street given traditional management conservatism, the bank said.

Outside the FTSE 350, Restaurant Group rallied as it said it was finally exiting its loss-making leisure business by offloading 75 trading sites - which include Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito - to the Big Table Group.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,528.44 0.67% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,550.43 0.47% techMARK (TASX) 4,342.15 0.42%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 574.80p 3.68% Anglo American (AAL) 2,093.50p 3.48% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,510.50p 3.00% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,978.50p 2.98% Persimmon (PSN) 1,045.00p 2.65% Glencore (GLEN) 437.25p 2.64% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 447.10p 2.48% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 228.40p 1.92% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 220.60p 1.85% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 115.15p 1.81%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 504.60p -1.21% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,544.00p -0.64% Ocado Group (OCDO) 821.60p -0.63% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,788.00p -0.53% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,040.00p -0.20% Halma (HLMA) 2,173.00p -0.18% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 6,124.00p -0.16% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 684.40p -0.12% Pearson (PSON) 881.00p -0.09% Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,203.00p -0.05%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vistry Group (VTY) 908.50p 13.56% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 198.70p 4.03% Babcock International Group (BAB) 398.20p 3.75% Warehouse Reit (WHR) 83.40p 2.58% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 476.00p 2.41% Molten Ventures (GROW) 246.40p 2.24% Future (FUTR) 738.00p 2.15% Darktrace (DARK) 412.10p 2.13% IWG (IWG) 172.70p 2.07% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 178.30p 2.06%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Discoverie Group (DSCV) 696.00p -4.26% Tyman (TYMN) 291.00p -3.64% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 192.00p -3.23% C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 133.00p -2.78% CMC Markets (CMCX) 100.00p -2.53% Vesuvius (VSVS) 426.40p -2.43% CLS Holdings (CLI) 123.60p -2.37% Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 576.80p -2.37% Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) 84.00p -2.33% IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 236.40p -2.07%