London open: Stocks edge down ahead of OPEC meeting, services data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday, taking their cue from a downbeat session on Wall Street as investors eyed an OPEC+ meeting and the latest reading on the UK services sector. At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,382.74.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "There are jitters flowing through the oil market today, ahead of an OPEC+ meeting which is expected to bear little fruit when it comes to changing current output mandates. This feeds into anxieties about constrained supply which consumers and wholesalers are very well-versed in at this point.

"The interesting flipside is that anxieties about a petering of demand seem to be winning in the battle of sentiment. Very real questions about the health of the global economy mean demand for oil and gas could be in for a contraction that's so sharp, the supply concerns are void."

On the macroeconomic front, all eyes will be on the S&P Global/CIPS services PMI for July due at 0930 BST, which is expected to have eased to 53.3 from 54.3 the month before.

In equity markets, British Gas owner Centrica slid after a downgrade to 'neutral' at Citi, while Kingfisher was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' at Societe Generale.

Hiscox tumbled after the insurer said it swung to an interim loss despite a strong underwriting performance.

Hill & Smith was also weaker despite reporting a jump in first-half profit and revenue as it took pricing actions to recover input cost inflation.

On the upside, house builder Taylor Wimpey gained after saying it expects full-year profits to be at the upper end of forecasts as it reported a rise in interim earnings, driven by strong selling prices.

Engine maker Rolls-Royce was also up as it said the Spanish government had approved the sale of its ITP Aero subsidiary to a consortium of investors led by Bain Capital Private Equity.

Avast shares rocketed after the Competition and Markets Authority provisionally cleared its $8.6bn acquisition by NortonLifeLock.

BAE Systems was boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral' at JPMorgan Cazenove, while Virgin Money was lifted by an upgrade to 'outperform' at Macquarie.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,382.74 -0.36% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,816.34 -0.29% techMARK (TASX) 4,326.35 -0.05%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 122.30p 1.87% BAE Systems (BA.) 816.00p 1.72% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 89.04p 1.41% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,690.00p 1.13% Harbour Energy (HBR) 360.30p 0.81% Glencore (GLEN) 450.40p 0.45% Entain (ENT) 1,209.50p 0.42% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,117.50p 0.40% Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 8,150.00p 0.39% Persimmon (PSN) 1,832.00p 0.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Kingfisher (KGF) 241.90p -3.01% Centrica (CNA) 87.00p -2.40% Fresnillo (FRES) 697.20p -2.13% Ocado Group (OCDO) 857.00p -1.45% GSK (GSK) 1,676.00p -1.12% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,714.00p -1.01% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,674.00p -0.98% Relx plc (REL) 2,395.00p -0.87% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,814.50p -0.79% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 427.50p -0.79%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Coats Group (COA) 72.70p 2.68% Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,026.00p 2.60% Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 572.00p 2.51% Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 197.00p 1.55% Premier Foods (PFD) 116.60p 1.22% Synthomer (SYNT) 209.60p 1.16% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 149.30p 1.08% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 172.00p 1.06% VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 505.00p 1.00% Energean (ENOG) 1,172.00p 0.86%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 799.00p -8.77% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,055.00p -2.71% Moonpig Group (MOON) 197.50p -2.61% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 321.40p -2.49% Provident Financial (PFG) 185.10p -2.42% Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 171.00p -1.95% ITV (ITV) 70.42p -1.89% Beazley (BEZ) 526.00p -1.59% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 957.00p -1.54% BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,400.00p -1.41%