London open: Stocks rise after German data and Chinese central-bank action

26th Jun 2013 08:51

UK stocks opened with moderate gains on Wednesday morning as markets continued to claw back from their recent sell-off, with data from Germany and central-bank action in China providing some support early on.While Germany continues to trudge through the Eurozone recession, consumer confidence is still hitting highs not seen since September 2007. The Gfk consumer confidence indicator advanced to 6.8 points in July, ahead of the June reading of 6.5. The market research company noted that German consumers continued to be in an "optimistic mood" with economic and income expectations increasing further.Over in China, the People's Bank of China had announced that it had injected funds into some financial institutions in an effort to increase liquidity and stabilise interbank lending rates. The central bank said it would make similar moves in the future, with one PBoC official quoted as saying that it would "guide market interest rates into a reasonable range".Meanwhile, Market Strategist Ishaq Siddiqi said that traders this morning had "put aside 'tapering' fears and instead warmed up to data indicating strength in the US economy". This comes after American consumer confidence, durable-goods orders and housing-market data released last night all came in ahead of forecasts.FTSE 100: Miners under pressure early onMining stocks were in the red this morning as metals prices fell sharply. Precious metals groups Fresnillo and Randgold were among the worst hit after gold prices dropped to their lowest level since September 2010 as better-than-expected US data pushed the dollar higher. Mining peers Antofagasta, Glencore Xstrata, Anglo American and ENRC were also out of favour.A number of heavyweight stocks were trading lower after going ex-dividend this morning, including Next, Tate & Lyle and Compass, meaning that investors won't have a chance to be awarded the companies' latest payouts.Security solutions group G4S was a high riser this morning after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform', leaving its 260p target price in place.Insurance, savings and investment group Legal & General rose on plans to purchase UK annuity buy-out firm Lucida for £151m after identifying retirement solutions as one of its "five key themes for growth".Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl was trading broadly flat after saying overall trading remains in line with company expectations and is unchanged from its last update in April.FTSE 250: Ex-div stocks provide a dragInterdealer broker ICAP was a heavy faller this morning after going ex-dividend. Others going ex-dividend this morning include: N Brown, Dairy Crest, KCOM, PayPoint and Petropavlovsk, all of which were trading firmly lower this morning.Transport group Stagecoach was heading the other way, surging after reporting full-year results ahead of expectations following a strong performance from its North American and British rail businesses, adding that current trading in line with management expectations. Infrastructure company Balfour Beatty gained after selling its interest in Exeter Airport to Patriot Aerospace, the aviation division of Rigby Group.Bumi plc fell despite saying that its Indonesian coal-mining subsidiary BT Berau is on track to meet its 2013 production target of 23m tonnes. FTSE 100 - RisersPersimmon (PSN) 1,162.00p +2.29%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 369.00p +2.19%Croda International (CRDA) 2,405.00p +2.12%ARM Holdings (ARM) 802.00p +2.04%Prudential (PRU) 1,051.00p +1.94%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,681.00p +1.87%TUI Travel (TT.) 350.80p +1.80%Land Securities Group (LAND) 870.50p +1.75%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 259.70p +1.48%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 167.90p +1.39%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 870.00p -3.17%Antofagasta (ANTO) 799.00p -2.44%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 271.45p -1.79%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 799.50p -1.72%Anglo American (AAL) 1,277.00p -1.69%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,029.00p -1.66%Next (NXT) 4,449.00p -1.64%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 210.70p -1.54%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,627.00p -0.83%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,209.00p -0.82%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 130.00p +6.82%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 230.50p +5.20%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 313.30p +4.61%Victrex (VCT) 1,559.00p +3.79%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 304.80p +3.74%Elementis (ELM) 231.10p +3.73%Spirent Communications (SPT) 141.60p +2.98%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 315.60p +2.73%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 93.45p +2.69%Close Brothers Group (CBG) 977.00p +2.57%FTSE 250 - FallersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 27.90p -8.16%ICAP (IAP) 360.80p -6.72%KCOM Group (KCOM) 79.45p -5.53%FirstGroup (FGP) 92.75p -3.49%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 308.80p -2.71%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 452.90p -2.71%PayPoint (PAY) 1,043.00p -2.52%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 107.40p -2.19%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 172.70p -1.99%Mitie Group (MTO) 251.00p -1.68%