LONDON MARKET OPEN: Mixed Trade As Miners And Drillers Drag FTSE 100

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks traded mixed just after the open on Monday, with London's resource sector pulling down the blue-chip FTSE 100 index.

Amongst the biggest fallers in the index were miners BHP Billiton, down 3.9%, Anglo American, down 3.3% and Rio Tinto, down 3.2%.

Oil and gas heavyweights, BP, down 1.8%, and Royal Dutch Shell 'A', down 1.7% also were amongst the worst performers. Brent oil traded at USD44.71 a barrel early Monday, lower than the USD45.56 a barrel at the London equities close on Friday.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.5%, or 28.42 points, at 6,282.02. Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.2% at 16,892.76 and the AIM All-Share was up 0.2% at 732.46.

European stocks got off to a lower start. The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3%, as was the DAX 30 in Frankfurt.

In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.8%, and the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.4%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was trading down 0.5%.

Imperial Brands, formerly Imperial Tobacco, was one of the best performers in the FTSE 100, up 2.1% after it was upgraded by Goldman Sachs to Buy from Neutral. Meanwhile, fashion retailer Ted Baker was the best performer in the FTSE 250, up 4.3% after Jefferies raised it to Buy from Hold.

Shares in FTSE 250-listed Allied Minds were down 0.6%. The investment company reported a widened pretax loss in what it called a "successful" 2015, as it increased investment in creating four new businesses and developing its existing businesses towards commercialisation.

The company, which funds and develops start-up companies in the science and technology space, reported a pretax loss of USD98.0 million for 2015, widened from USD57.7 million in 2014, mostly as a result of higher selling, general and administrative expenses, and a big step up in research and development costs.

Revenue fell to USD3.3 million from USD7.7 million.

Allied Minds said its group subsidiary ownership adjusted value, a key metric for the company, rose to USD535.8 million as at the end of 2015 from USD488.0 million at the end of 2014.

St Ives was the biggest faller in the FTSE All-Share, down 37%. The marketing services provider said it expects its underling pretax profit for its current financial year to be "materially below" its current expectations, and warned the following year would also be hit.

St Ives said its trading overall in the eight months to the beginning of April had continued to be "broadly in line" with its expectations, with revenue up 5% compared to the previous year, however its outlook for the final quarter to end-July and following financial year has deteriorated.

Still ahead in the economic calendar, there are IFO business sentiment surveys for Germany at 0900 BST and the UK industrial trends survey at 1100 BST. Later in the day, US new home sales are at 1500 BST and the Dallas Federal Reserve manufacturing business index is at 1530 BST.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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