The FTSE 100 declined 0.25% in the morning, which was in line with pre-trade projections.
Engineering firm Invensys (LON:ISYS) spiked after chief executive Ulf Henriksson said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that China Southern Rail had the possibility to purchase Invensys, depending on whether its shareholders approve the takeover price. Invensys today denied that it was in takeover talks and said it did not receive any approaches.
After jumping about 7% in early deals, shares pulled back and stood 4% above the opening level.
Platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) followed, climbing 1.7% after reporting an increase in full year revenues from US$1.06 billion to US$1.58 billion and posting a pre-tax profit of US$240 million following a loss of US$272 million a year earlier.
Lonmin reinstated its annual dividend after swinging back to profits.
Meanwhile, the price of platinum surged to US$1,679/oz this morning after closing at US$1,666/oz on Friday.
Other top risers included oil and gas major Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) with a 1.5% gain as well as InterContinental Hotels (LON:IHG) and outsourcer Capita Group (LON:CPI), which advanced 1.2%.
Government services company Serco Group (LON:SRP), which reported a continuingly strong performance in the second half and said it was on track to deliver on its financial guidance for 2010, added 1.2%.
Engine and turbine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) was at the bottom of the pile with a 1.6% loss. The Wall Street Journal said this morning that Qantas Airways (QAN.AU) may be forced to do additional work on 14 Rolls-Royce engines to get its fleet back into the air.
A Qantas flight from London to Sydney had to make en emergency landing in Singapore after a Rolls-Royce made engine malfunctioned. Rolls-Royce later said that it located the problem.
Today, a Qantas operated flight bound for Buenos Aires had to return to Sydney after smoke filled the cockpit, which was blamed on an electrical issue.
Defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LON:BA) and insurer Legal & General (LON:LGEN) followed, shedding 1.5%.
British Gas parent company Centrica (LON:CNA) and silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) lost 1.3% and 1% respectively.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 indexes are projected to start unchanged.
On Friday, the DJIA and S&P 500 lost 0.8% and 1.2% respectively on fears that the Chinese government will go for further monetary policy tightening after inflation reached 4.4% in October, wich added to the disappointment with networking equipment company Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), which said its revenue growth would be slower than expected in Q4 in an earnings report last week.
Today's macroeconomic data will include updates on US retail sales and business inventories and the Empire State manufacturing index.
Commodities
Oil prices were on the rise today with US light, sweet crude for December delivery climbing to US$85.35/barrel, while January Brent Crude advanced to US$87.19/barrel on the ICE Exchange.
Precious metals fell with gold and silver declining to US$1,364/oz and US$26/oz respectively.
Base metals followed. Copper and nickel retreated to US$3.86/lb and US$10.17/lb respectively.