London midday: Dollar strength weighs on commodities, Footsie

UK stocks were holding slightly lower come midday and lagging the rest of European benchmarks as the dollar continued to strengthen, pressuring commodity prices lower across the board.The US dollar index is trading at a four-year high, just as commodities such as wheat plumb four-year lows. Three-month copper futures were off by 0.5% to $6,707 per metric tonne on the LME, weighing on shares of miners.As of 12:30 the FTSE 100 was 5 points lower at 6,703.Acting as a backdrop, investors were focusing on remarks by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, to a Lithuanian publication, to the effect that the ECB could implement additional easing measures – even as the euro dropped below the 1.28 mark to the US dollar.Related to the above, new Bank of England Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik told the Yorkshire Post on Thursday morning that the Eurozone represents a "significant risk" for the UK economy, while also highlighting concerns about low inflation.BoE Governor Mark Carney is due to offer a speech this afternoon from Wales, at 13:40.As of 08:56 the FTSE 100 was 8 points higher at 6,714.IAG and easyJet lead gainsShares of RyanAir rose after Europe's largest carrier said increased passenger numbers will raise full-year profit towards the upper end of its guidance range of between €620m and €650m. The news lifted shares of IAG and easyJet.Changes to US tax inversion laws may dim investors' interest in seeing a tie-up between AbbVie and Shire. Nevertheless, the deal is still expected to go through, according to analysts cited by The Wall Street Journal.Retailer Sports Direct International revealed it has entered into a put option on 23m Tesco shares, which it said reflected its belief in the company. The company stated that the investment "reflects Sports Direct's growing relationship with Tesco and belief in Tesco's long-term future," it explained.In parallel, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Adrian Bailey, chairman of the parliamentary business committee, said Tesco executives may be asked to explain the firm's £250m misstatement of first-half profits which took £2bn off its stock market capitalisation.Analysts at JP Morgan have lowered their price target on shares of Sainsbury to 225p from 280p and Deutsche Bank to 275p from 330p.Insurance provider Direct Line has announced an agreement to sell its international division to Mapfre for €550m. Direct Line described the deal as the last step in its strategic review and said that it expects to recognise a pre-tax gain on disposal of approximately £160m.Retail property developer Hammerson is launching a share placing to help it buy a major shopping centre in the English Midlands and to start a new outlet shopping centre venture. The placing is for up to about 71.3m new ordinary shares of 25p each, representing about a 10th of the company's valuation.Market MoverstechMARK 2,821.98 +0.29%FTSE 100 6,702.89 -0.05%FTSE 250 15,529.79 -0.05%FTSE 100 - RiserseasyJet (EZJ) 1,351.00p +2.74%Vodafone Group (VOD) 208.65p +2.15%Whitbread (WTB) 4,219.00p +2.03%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,082.00p +1.98%Carnival (CCL) 2,499.00p +1.96%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 373.10p +1.86%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,273.00p +1.68%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,524.00p +1.40%ITV (ITV) 211.40p +1.39%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,046.00p +1.36%FTSE 100 - FallersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 926.00p -3.94%Royal Mail (RMG) 399.90p -3.50%Fresnillo (FRES) 751.00p -3.16%Anglo American (AAL) 1,419.50p -2.84%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,219.00p -2.50%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,170.50p -2.25%Hammerson (HMSO) 571.50p -2.22%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,770.00p -1.53%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,136.50p -1.45%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,589.00p -1.45%FTSE 250 - RisersCSR (CSR) 780.00p +7.07%Amec (AMEC) 1,099.00p +3.10%EnQuest (ENQ) 109.50p +3.01%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 120.50p +2.90%William Hill (WMH) 374.00p +2.66%Ladbrokes (LAD) 130.20p +2.44%Cairn Energy (CNE) 184.80p +2.21%Essentra (ESNT) 817.50p +1.81%Pace (PIC) 297.20p +1.71%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 743.50p +1.50%FTSE 250 - FallersMitchells & Butlers (MAB) 383.30p -5.50%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 146.90p -3.67%Polymetal International (POLY) 480.00p -3.54%Evraz (EVR) 123.90p -3.05%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 124.40p -2.74%Rightmove (RMV) 2,201.00p -2.52%Lonmin (LMI) 187.10p -2.40%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 119.60p -2.29%Rank Group (RNK) 161.30p -2.24%Redefine International (RDI) 51.90p -2.08%