London open: Stocks nudge up after UK jobs data; miners rally

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Tuesday as investors digested the latest UK jobs data ,with miners on the front foot after encouraging Chinese data.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 6,038.23.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of redundancies rose in July by the most since 2009 as the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll. The data showed 156,000 people were made redundant in the May to July quarter, up 58,000 from the same period a year ago and 48,000 higher than between February and April.

The ONS said these were the largest annual and quarterly increases since 2009.

"While redundancies are at their highest level since September to November 2012, the level remains well below that seen during the 2008 downturn," it said.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate increased to 4.1% in July from 3.9% the month before. The data showed that the number of employees on payrolls declined by 695,000 in August compared to March and by 36,000 compared to July.

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: "Some effects of the pandemic on the labour market were beginning to unwind in July as parts of the economy reopened. Fewer workers were away on furlough and average hours rose. The number of job vacancies continued to recover into August, too.

"Nonetheless, with the number of employees on the payroll down again in August and both unemployment and redundancies sharply up in July, it is clear that coronavirus is still having a big impact on the world of work."

In equity markets, miners were doing well, with Glencore, Anglo American and BHP all higher after Chinese industrial production and retail sales figures for August surprised to the upside.

Online grocer and technology firm Ocado rallied after it recorded a sharp rise in third-quarter revenue, driven by continued higher average spends as it forecast annual core earnings of £40m. The company, which has started its new partnership with Marks & Spencer, said revenue in the 13 weeks to August 30 grew 52% to £587.3m with average weekly orders up 9.6% to 345,000.

Next was in the black after it acquired a majority stake in the UK and Irish arm of L Brands' Victoria's Secret unit for an undisclosed sum as part of a joint-venture agreement.

Chemring racked up strong gains after saying the expected outturn for the year ending 31 October 2020 was towards the upper end of current analyst expectations.

Polypipe rose as it reported a decline in first-half profit and revenue due to the pandemic but struck a more upbeat note on recent trading.

FirstGroup pushed higher after saying it now expects to deliver a small adjusted operating profit for the seasonally-weaker first half of the financial year, ahead of its expectations earlier this summer.

William Hill shares surged after the bookmaker said a multi-year deal between its US partner Caesars Entertainment and broadcaster ESPN will feature its sports betting apps and sports book odds. Flutter Entertainment and GVC were also trading up.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,038.23 0.20%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,745.98 0.39%
techMARK (TASX) 3,858.74 0.24%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,431.00p 3.23%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 12,175.00p 3.18%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 908.80p 2.69%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 8,576.00p 2.49%
BAE Systems (BA.) 532.80p 2.42%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 137.20p 2.12%
Glencore (GLEN) 185.06p 1.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,973.60p 1.87%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 797.20p 1.53%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,779.60p 1.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Kingfisher (KGF) 279.90p -1.58%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 182.20p -1.27%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 274.70p -1.19%
Barclays (BARC) 102.44p -1.14%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 26.07p -1.14%
Pearson (PSON) 514.60p -1.00%
Schroders (SDR) 2,748.00p -0.83%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 8,890.00p -0.78%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,832.00p -0.70%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 379.60p -0.68%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Polypipe Group (PLP) 453.00p 11.03%
FirstGroup (FGP) 45.20p 10.51%
William Hill (WMH) 216.00p 8.54%
Chemring Group (CHG) 268.00p 6.77%
Inchcape (INCH) 486.20p 5.65%
Rank Group (RNK) 116.40p 4.86%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 109.50p 4.58%
AO World (AO.) 199.40p 4.29%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 238.00p 3.70%
National Express Group (NEX) 125.90p 3.62%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Trainline (TRN) 376.20p -3.54%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 372.40p -2.62%
Hammerson (HMSO) 24.30p -2.29%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 2,144.00p -2.28%
Provident Financial (PFG) 220.00p -2.22%
TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 351.00p -1.54%
Investec (INVP) 139.45p -1.45%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 132.90p -1.41%
G4S (GFS) 180.00p -1.34%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 91.70p -1.10%