London open: Stocks fall; Ashtead planning to switch primary listing to US

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday following a downbeat session on Wall Street and as sentiment took a hit after another London-listed firm announced plans to move its primary listing to the US. At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 8,321.49.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 opened lower this morning, handing back some of yesterday's 0.6% gain. Yesterday's rally was powered by mining stocks and fuelled by China's promise of economic stimulus, including looser monetary policy and support for property prices. But as we've seen with mini-China rallies in the past, it seems the buzz is fading as investors take a step back to reassess the bigger picture.

"Equipment rental giant Ashtead is packing its bags and heading stateside, dealing another blow to UK markets. The move had been whispered about for a while, despite Ashtead previously insisting there were no such plans. It's a logical leap - most of its leadership is already US-based, and the States are its biggest market. There will still be a secondary listing in the UK, albeit with less stringent requirements than a full listing.

"As for today's results, they were a let-down, missing expectations across the board and topped off with a guidance downgrade. Sluggish commercial real estate is still a drag, but investors can find a silver lining in easier comparable quarters on the horizon and the longer-term tailwind of mega projects in the US."

Ashtead tumbled nearly 9% on the listing news and as it delivered a profit warning due to weaker local construction market dynamics in the US.

It said rental revenues are now expected to grow by just 3-5% over the full year, compared with earlier guidance of a 5-8% improvement, owing solely to a downgrade in US rental growth to 2-4% from 4-7% previously.

Prudential was also in the red following a report it is considering options for its asset manager Eastspring Investments that include selling a minority stake to help broaden the business.

Moonpig fell sharply after saying it swung to a pre-tax loss in the first half as it pointed to "challenging" trading in its Experiences segment.

On the upside, British Land rallied after an upgrade to 'buy' at Goldman Sachs, while Unite was lifted by an upgrade to 'overweight' by JPMorgan.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals nudged higher after an upgrade to 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets.

British Gas owner Centrica was trading up as it said it expects full-year profits to match analysts' estimates and beefed up its share buyback programme by £300m.

FirstGroup gained as it announced its entry into the London bus market after agreeing to buy the French state-owned RATP Dev Transit London, an operator with a 12% market share, for £90m.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,321.49 -0.37% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,958.25 -0.43% techMARK (TASX) 4,697.81 -0.40%

FTSE 100 - Risers

British Land Company (BLND) 374.00p 2.07% Centrica (CNA) 132.80p 1.07% Unite Group (UTG) 840.50p 0.66% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,967.00p 0.46% Relx plc (REL) 3,693.00p 0.44% GSK (GSK) 1,389.00p 0.43% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 364.60p 0.41% Tesco (TSCO) 365.90p 0.30% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 391.50p 0.20% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 751.40p 0.17%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,480.50p -2.00% BT Group (BT.A) 152.50p -1.96% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 275.80p -1.89% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,592.00p -1.82% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,782.50p -1.82% Entain (ENT) 798.40p -1.67% Glencore (GLEN) 388.60p -1.58% Prudential (PRU) 671.00p -1.53% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,047.00p -1.29% 3i Group (III) 3,641.00p -1.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers

FirstGroup (FGP) 157.70p 2.34% Currys (CURY) 82.80p 2.10% AJ Bell (AJB) 473.50p 1.18% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 3,085.00p 0.82% Babcock International Group (BAB) 505.00p 0.80% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 463.80p 0.78% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 14,050.00p 0.72% PZ Cussons (PZC) 90.00p 0.67% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 301.00p 0.67% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 108.10p 0.65%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Moonpig Group (MOON) 245.00p -8.41% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 223.00p -2.83% Inchcape (INCH) 755.50p -2.39% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,668.00p -2.23% PureTech Health (PRTC) 169.00p -2.20% Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 269.00p -2.18% C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 143.80p -1.91% Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 85.40p -1.84% Primary Health Properties (PHP) 91.60p -1.77% Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 139.60p -1.69%