London open: Stocks rise after Thursday's selloff; Brexit talks eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Friday following heavy losses in the previous session on concerns about tightening Covid-19 restrictions.
At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 1% at 5,888.50, having fallen sharply a day earlier as countries across Europe implemented further restrictions and London was moved to Tier 2.

Meanwhile, sterling was up 0.1% against the dollar at 1.2917 as the second day of the European Union summit kicks off, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson due to make a statement on negotiations later in the day.

Danske Bank said: "The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier was more 'bullish' saying that the EU is ready to negotiate until the last possible day, wants to give the negotiations every chance to be successful and is ready to speed up negotiations in the next few days.

"We do not know how the UK is responding yet but the UK's chief negotiator said he was 'disappointed' about the EU council statement and the Financial Times reports that PM Boris Johnson will give the EU an ultimatum over the coming days and will decide today whether to stay and negotiate or not. We think this should just be considered as a play to the gallery and continue to think a deal is more likely than not. That said, negotiations are likely to extend into November, in our view."

In equity markets, luxury brand Burberry was the top performer on the FTSE 100 following well-received third-quarter results from peer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Just Eat followed close behind after an upgrade to 'buy' at HSBC, while Premier Inn owner Whitbread was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Berenberg. Dixons Carphone was lifted by an upgrade to 'sector perform' at RBC.

Hedge fund Man Group gained after it reported a 4% rise in third-quarter funds under management partly thanks to "robust" net inflows, although it also struck a note of caution about the outlook.

Outsourcer Serco surged after upgrading its 2020 guidance thanks to strong revenue growth in the third quarter and good cost control.

On the downside, pub chain Wetherspoons slumped after it swung to an annual loss as it felt the full impact of the coronavirus lockdown and said the government's latest set of curbs had led to a 15% fall in like-for-like sales in the first 11 weeks of the current fiscal year.

The company reported a pre-tax loss of £34m compared with £102m profit a year ago. Revenue fell by a third to £1.26bn and the final dividend was scrapped.

Jupiter Fund Management was also in the red as it said assets under management jumped 42% in the third quarter to £55.7bn, with the increase entirely due to the consolidation of assets from recently acquired Merian.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,888.50 0.96%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,972.87 0.75%
techMARK (TASX) 3,815.94 0.80%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,540.50p 3.56%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 9,866.00p 2.79%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,233.00p 2.53%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,142.00p 2.48%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 199.85p 2.43%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,460.00p 2.37%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 311.00p 2.34%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,198.00p 2.22%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,582.00p 2.22%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 128.25p 2.19%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BT Group (BT.A) 101.60p -0.59%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 95.52p -0.25%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 539.50p -0.19%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 508.80p -0.16%
Tesco (TSCO) 214.90p 0.00%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,127.00p 0.09%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,835.00p 0.21%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 879.40p 0.23%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 109.24p 0.31%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 172.25p 0.41%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Man Group (EMG) 125.90p 7.38%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 362.00p 6.47%
Investec (INVP) 159.90p 4.37%
Rank Group (RNK) 95.40p 3.81%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 253.00p 3.52%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 104.50p 3.36%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 202.00p 2.85%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 9,866.00p 2.79%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 159.80p 2.70%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 359.60p 2.63%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 390.00p -4.88%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 234.00p -2.01%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 115.00p -1.54%
SDL (SDL) 738.00p -1.34%
Capita (CPI) 25.59p -0.97%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 951.00p -0.94%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 359.00p -0.69%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 29.25p -0.68%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 2,595.00p -0.57%
AO World (AO.) 301.00p -0.50%