London open: Lack of catalysts sends UK stocks lower early on

- Markets fall as traders await catalysts- Sainsbury's gains despite drop in Q1 LFL sales- Rolls-Royce hit by Emirates order cancellationtechMARK 2,846.37 -0.45%FTSE 100 6,855.44 -0.26%FTSE 250 16,103.59 -0.66%UK stocks edged lower on Wednesday as markets continue to struggle for direction with global equity indices trading near record highs."The bulls and bears have struck up an easy truce at the moment, squaring off whilst waiting for a catalyst to jolt the markets either way," said Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at Capital Spreads.London's FTSE 100 was down around 0.3% at 6,855 shortly after the open this morning.The FTSE 100 finished broadly flat on Tuesday, erasing losses made earlier in the day, but failing to regain the four-week high set on Monday."This could be a sign of flagging momentum and traders taking a breather after recent gains, supported by US markets finishing pretty much unchanged even if the Dow Jones Industrial Average did manage another record close," said Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets.On a relatively quiet day for economic data, UK unemployment figures will likely garner the most attention with the jobless rate expected to decline to 6.7% in the three months to April, from 6.8% the month before.Sainsbury's fares better than rivalsJ Sainsbury gave a cautious outlook for consumer trends on Wednesday as the supermarket chain reported a 1.1% fall in like-for-like (LFL) retail sales excluding fuel in its first quarter. However, shares gained early on as the decline was not as bad as some analysts had feared, showing the company was more resilient than its rivals Tesco and Wm Morrison, who both reported a steeper slump in LFL sales in their first quarters.The cancellation of a major order from Emirates Airlines has cut Rolls-Royce's order book by 3.5% or £2.6bn, causing the engineer's stock to fall early on.Brewer SABMiller was lower this morning as the stock pulled back after an M&A-inspired boost on Tuesday after it was reported that a merger with European peer Anheuser-Busch InBev could be on the cards.A number of stocks were trading lower this morning after going ex-dividend, including heavyweights Vodafone and Johnson Matthey. Booker, Intermediate Capital and LondonMetric Property also went ex-dividend today.FTSE 100 - RisersSainsbury (J) (SBRY) 338.80p +2.73%Fresnillo (FRES) 796.50p +1.14%Anglo American (AAL) 1,463.00p +0.76%Antofagasta (ANTO) 778.00p +0.65%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,615.00p +0.59%National Grid (NG.) 835.50p +0.54%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,508.00p +0.53%Unilever (ULVR) 2,699.00p +0.52%BT Group (BT.A) 398.40p +0.48%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,428.00p +0.48%FTSE 100 - FallersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 397.00p -3.78%Vodafone Group (VOD) 202.40p -3.09%easyJet (EZJ) 1,557.00p -2.26%SABMiller (SAB) 3,387.00p -2.11%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,224.00p -2.01%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,055.00p -1.95%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,685.00p -1.75%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,634.00p -1.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 908.00p -1.52%Wolseley (WOS) 3,357.00p -1.50%FTSE 250 - RisersAfrican Barrick Gold (ABG) 222.30p +2.44%Polymetal International (POLY) 545.00p +1.58%Partnership Assurance Group (PA.) 131.60p +1.08%esure Group (ESUR) 265.00p +1.03%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 278.70p +0.98%Betfair Group (BET) 1,032.00p +0.98%Genus (GNS) 1,054.00p +0.86%RPC Group (RPC) 646.00p +0.70%NMC Health (NMC) 478.00p +0.63%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 63.80p +0.63%FTSE 250 - FallersIntermediate Capital Group (ICP) 397.40p -5.27%Supergroup (SGP) 1,110.00p -3.48%LondonMetric Property (LMP) 140.20p -2.64%Booker Group (BOK) 139.20p -2.45%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 279.30p -2.21%Unite Group (UTG) 422.80p -2.08%Victrex plc (VCT) 1,763.00p -2.06%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.61 -1.94%Premier Oil (PMO) 337.40p -1.92%Greencore Group (GNC) 277.10p -1.91%BC