London open: Stocks flat ahead of US data, Admiral jumps

3rd Feb 2012 08:31

London's blue chip stocks were broadly flat in early trading on Friday, with investors cautious ahead of some key non-farm payroll data due out in the US later today.In domestic news, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) predicts that the UK may fall back into recession this year, with gross domestic product expected to fall by 0.1%. "We forecast a return to technical recession in the first half of this year, as households continue to retrench, credit conditions remain tight, and businesses are reluctant to invest given uncertainty about both domestic and foreign demand," NIESR said.Meanwhile, Adam Posen from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) told Bloomberg last night that he is "leaning" towards additional stimulus at the next meeting.ADMIRAL, BT LEAD THE RISERS ON THE FOOTSIEInsurance group Admiral rose strongly after extending its existing UK car insurance reinsurance partnerships with Hannover Re, Mapfre Re, New Re and Swiss Re until 2014. "Reinsurance has been at the core of Admiral's successful business model since 2000 and we look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial relationships with our partners for many years to come," said Chief Executive Officer Henry Engelhardt. Telecoms giant BT saw profits jump 48% in the third quarter, as the firm announced that it now expects to achieve its EBITDA target of above £6,000m this year, rather than in 2013.Miners were pulling back after yesterday's strong rise with Rio Tinto, ENRC, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta among the worst performers.Banks peers Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were also lower. RBS saw its rating downgraded by Deutsche Bank this morning from buy to hold. Meanwhile, there are rumours that Barclays will reduce the number of "senior bankers" in its investment banking arm by 5%, according to Bloomberg.FTSE 250: MISYS BACK IN PLAYBid speculation seems to permanently surround financial software provider Misys of late and it appears that there is no smoke without fire, as the group has confirmed it is in talks with a suitor. The market reaction was rather muted though. The group said it is in preliminary discussions with Temenos Group, a Swiss provider of banking software, regarding a possible strategic combination to be effected by way of an all share merger.Specialist bank and asset manager Investec fell after saying that assets under management excluding a contribution from the recently-acquired Evolution Group declined in the nine months to December 31st.Builders' merchant Travis Perkins was out of favour after saying that the Office of Fair Trading intends to look into the company taking full control of hardware supplier Toolstation.Electrocomponents was in the red after seeing revenue growth slow down. Revenues in the four months to January 31st rose by 4%, but were only 1% higher in January alone.BCFTSE 100 - RisersAdmiral Group (ADM) 1,030.00p +7.07%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,343.00p +1.52%BT Group (BT.A) 208.80p +1.41%Compass Group (CPG) 612.00p +1.07%Vodafone Group (VOD) 172.55p +1.02%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 288.60p +0.91%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,101.00p +0.91%SSE (SSE) 1,233.00p +0.90%Standard Life (SL.) 226.40p +0.89%Aviva (AV.) 366.70p +0.85%FTSE 100 - FallersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,970.00p -2.38%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,911.00p -1.75%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,472.00p -1.54%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,163.00p -1.46%Cairn Energy (CNE) 283.60p -1.18%Glencore International (GLEN) 456.75p -1.07%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,352.00p -1.02%BG Group (BG.) 1,418.00p -0.98%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 698.50p -0.92%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,311.00p -0.91%FTSE 250 - RisersSenior (SNR) 189.50p +3.95%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 144.70p +3.80%Home Retail Group (HOME) 114.30p +3.63%Henderson Group (HGG) 118.30p +2.69%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 75.50p +2.58%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 65.40p +2.51%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,050.00p +2.28%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.00p +2.19%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 721.00p +2.05%Computacenter (CCC) 416.90p +1.88%FTSE 250 - FallersOcado Group (OCDO) 107.20p -2.10%AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 307.80p -2.04%Electrocomponents (ECM) 229.40p -2.01%Misys (MSY) 319.10p -1.97%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 333.00p -1.91%Shanks Group (SKS) 111.10p -1.68%Mitie Group (MTO) 256.10p -1.65%Premier Farnell (PFL) 214.80p -1.65%WH Smith (SMWH) 529.00p -1.49%Redrow (RDW) 127.60p -1.47%