London open: Soft start but banks shine

12th Oct 2012 08:51

London has taken its cue from Wall Street, which experienced a late swoon yesterday, and opened lower.Stocks on the other side of the Atlantic were initially boosted by jobless data, which showed a fall to levels not seen in over four years, but the good mood did not last, as some pundits claimed the figures were distorted by seasonal factors and one of the larger states delaying its re-certification process. The ONS will publish construction output data for August at 9:30; the data will be the last published official input into the preliminary estimate of third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth. GDP figures are due out on October 25th.Building materials sector fatiguedIn company news, financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown said revenue, assets under administration (AuA) and client numbers all hit record levels in the July-September quarter, the firm's quietest period of the financial year. AuA increased by £2.2bn in the three months to the end of September to £28.5bn, while revenue in the period rose 20% year-on-year to £58.7m. The group said it has made an excellent start to October.Building materials supplier Travis Perkins saw like-for-like sales fall back in the group's second quarter (to end-September), as the group struggled with the poor weather and the competing attraction of the Olympics. Total sales in the quarter were down 2.4% year-on-year, although the group noted that the quarter this year had one less trading day. Like-for-like sales per trading day were down 3.5% on the corresponding period of last year.Industrial materials provider Morgan Crucible has delivered a profits warning as trading conditions have deteriorated across most geographies, particularly in Europe and China. Sector peer Bodycote falls in sympathy.Information technology services provider Computacenter is having to spend time and money getting service levels up to the required standard on some new German contracts, but things are going well in the home market.Other marketsThe price of Brent crude is drifting lower, with the most actively traded futures contract down 35 cents to $115.36 a barrel.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 237.35p +2.02%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,421.50p +1.86%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 39.83p +1.48%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 277.00p +1.17%Aviva (AV.) 329.80p +0.83%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,091.00p +0.55%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 691.50p +0.51%SABMiller (SAB) 2,671.50p +0.43%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 163.00p +0.37%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 334.00p +0.36%FTSE 100 - FallersIMI (IMI) 901.50p -2.59%GKN (GKN) 213.10p -1.80%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,291.00p -1.75%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 734.00p -1.61%WPP (WPP) 856.00p -1.33%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,061.00p -1.21%Serco Group (SRP) 576.00p -1.20%Vodafone Group (VOD) 176.25p -1.18%Melrose (MRO) 233.30p -1.10%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,618.00p -1.10%FTSE 250 - RisersBumi (BUMI) 299.90p +15.79%Ocado Group (OCDO) 68.40p +3.48%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 281.10p +2.93%Interserve (IRV) 378.20p +2.11%Ruspetro (RPO) 108.40p +2.07%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 102.60p +1.99%St James's Place (STJ) 387.60p +1.97%Menzies(John) (MNZS) 641.58p +1.84%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 198.50p +1.69%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 483.00p +1.68%FTSE 250 - FallersMorgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 223.00p -12.82%Bodycote (BOY) 355.60p -4.97%Spectris (SXS) 1,595.00p -3.97%Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 1,955.00p -2.83%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 156.40p -2.62%Senior (SNR) 190.10p -2.51%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,108.00p -2.38%Fenner (FENR) 361.90p -2.19%Computacenter (CCC) 373.20p -1.79%Spirent Communications (SPT) 145.90p -1.42%JH