London open: Stocks edge up as heavily-weighted miners rally

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged up in early trade on Monday, with sentiment boosted by China reopening hopes and last week's US non-farm payrolls report. At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,712.42.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "China reopening its borders fully as well as slowing wage growth and a decline in service sector in the US have fuelled a positive first week of the year for equity markets, which saw shares in London hit their highest level in four years.

"Whilst China is well positioned now - and earlier than expected - to drive global growth, the outlook on inflation and the Federal Reserve's reaction function remain uncertain. Whilst the ISM services PMI showed the sector fell into contraction in December, jobs growth remains strong, even if wages were not growing as fast as thought.

"And minutes from the FOMC's December meeting released last week underlined the Fed's determination to continue tightening. Some heat coming out of the wage data seems to be what's got investors most excited on Friday, but we should not overlook the rapid reopening of China going forward, which I would expect to be more positive for UK and European indices vs US peers."

Wilson noted that the combination of weak services activity and slowing wage growth sent stocks higher on Friday.

In UK equity markets, miners were the standout gainers on the FTSE 100 amid China reopening hopes, with Glencore, Anglo American and Antofagasta all higher.

BT also rose after an upgrade to 'buy' at Citi, while LSE was lifted by a resumption of coverage at 'buy' at Citi.

Elsewhere, AstraZeneca lost ground as it announced the acquisition of US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company CinCor in a $1.8bn deal.

Ground engineering contractor Keller Group slumped as it issued a profit warning after uncovering financial fraud at its Australia business that resulted in two directors being sacked.

In what it called a "deliberate and sophisticated" reporting fraud at Austral, a civil, mining and marine contractor, profits from 2019 onwards had been overstated. The impact of the fraud on historical operating profits is currently estimated to be £6m related to the first half of 2022, and £8m to £10m relating to prior years.

Rathbones lost ground after a downgrade to 'underperform' at Jefferies.

Vodafone nudged down after saying it had entered into binding terms in relation to the sale of its Hungary unit to local IT company 4iG and state-owned Corvinus for €1.8bn.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,712.42 0.17% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,549.62 0.23% techMARK (TASX) 4,504.43 0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 539.70p 2.62% BT Group (BT.A) 129.80p 2.49% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,696.00p 2.48% Anglo American (AAL) 3,573.50p 1.84% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,268.00p 1.51% Prudential (PRU) 1,246.50p 1.34% Shell (SHEL) 2,376.50p 1.13% BP (BP.) 481.95p 1.03% Halma (HLMA) 2,084.00p 1.02% RS Group (RS1) 943.00p 1.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 101.26p -1.59% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 861.80p -1.33% Standard Chartered (STAN) 690.20p -1.09% Vodafone Group (VOD) 87.75p -1.08% BAE Systems (BA.) 849.00p -1.03% Haleon (HLN) 314.30p -1.02% AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,668.00p -0.97% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 563.60p -0.88% Unilever (ULVR) 4,167.00p -0.82% Schroders (SDR) 445.20p -0.78%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 150.85p 3.04% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,618.00p 2.27% Harbour Energy (HBR) 305.40p 2.24% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 152.80p 2.14% Synthomer (SYNT) 158.50p 1.93% FirstGroup (FGP) 107.00p 1.90% OSB Group (OSB) 515.00p 1.88% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,625.00p 1.83% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 178.60p 1.82% Energean (ENOG) 1,248.00p 1.79%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 256.50p -5.00% Keller Group (KLR) 807.00p -4.04% Savills (SVS) 810.00p -2.35% Indivior (INDV) 1,856.00p -1.95% Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 135.00p -1.46% Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd. (SOI) 262.00p -1.32% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 646.00p -1.30% Rathbones Group (RAT) 2,050.00p -1.20% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 925.00p -1.18% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 352.40p -1.12%