London open: Stocks edge higher in quiet trade

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged higher in early trade on Monday amid a dearth of corporate news, as investors eyed the release of the latest US inflation data this week. At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,905.23.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "As we look ahead to another week, the main focus is going to be on tomorrow's US January CPI report, along with retail sales later in the week. Better-than-expected numbers are unlikely to be positive in the context of being near a peak for US rates.

"It's also a big week for UK economic data after last week's Q4 GDP numbers which showed the economy stalled. While there were some pockets of strength there is little doubt that the UK economy remains fragile and will continue to remain so as we look towards Wednesday's CPI and tomorrow's wages data.

"Headline inflation is still well above 10% and expected to remain so even after this week's CPI reading, which means consumers are likely to remain cash-strapped for some time to come, a trend that is likely to be reinforced by January retail sales numbers on Friday."

On the corporate front, there was no FTSE 350 news of note out, so broker notes were providing most of the action.

Smiths and Weir Group were high risers after Goldman Sachs reinstated coverage of the stocks at 'buy'.

On the downside, housebuilders Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Crest Nicholson and Redrow all fell after rating downgrades at Deutsche Bank.

Water companies Severn Trent and Pennon were under the cosh after downgrades to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets, and Network International was hit by a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Barclays.

Outside the FTSE 350, Kape Technologies surged after saying it had received a $1.51bn (£1.25bn) takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Teddy Sagi.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,905.23 0.29% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,018.50 -0.06% techMARK (TASX) 4,542.44 0.12%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BAE Systems (BA.) 863.80p 1.65% Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,777.50p 1.60% Centrica (CNA) 99.58p 1.47% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,083.50p 1.26% National Grid (NG.) 1,047.50p 1.26% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,692.50p 1.07% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,818.50p 1.03% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,929.00p 0.99% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,068.50p 0.99% Compass Group (CPG) 1,894.50p 0.91%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Persimmon (PSN) 1,458.50p -2.18% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 119.10p -2.18% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 466.10p -1.33% Ocado Group (OCDO) 628.80p -1.01% BP (BP.) 555.40p -0.82% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,269.00p -0.54% Rightmove (RMV) 579.60p -0.48% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 738.00p -0.43% SEGRO (SGRO) 826.40p -0.41% Haleon (HLN) 328.50p -0.35%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 247.70p 3.47% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,746.00p 2.39% JTC (JTC) 745.00p 2.34% Moonpig Group (MOON) 129.40p 1.89% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 342.40p 1.54% Hays (HAS) 126.90p 1.52% Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) 1,384.00p 1.47% Molten Ventures (GROW) 383.80p 1.43% BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 440.00p 1.38% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 595.50p 1.28%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 238.80p -3.40% Network International Holdings (NETW) 269.60p -3.02% Redrow (RDW) 517.00p -2.54% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 63.40p -2.39% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,435.00p -2.01% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 300.00p -1.80% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 160.40p -1.78% Hammerson (HMSO) 29.15p -1.65% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 151.20p -1.50% Vistry Group (VTY) 773.00p -1.40%