London’s blue-chip stocks opened relatively flat this morning as investors wait for key speeches to be made later today.
George Osborne’s annual Mansion House speech will command much of the attention today with a commitment to make a budget surplus the norm when the UK economy is growing, according to reports.
In Europe, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is heading to Belgium to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French president François Hollande.
Overnight, US markets were subdued with the Dow Jones Industrial Average largely flat at 17,764 with a modest loss for Nasdaq and a one point gain for the S&P 500.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 eked out a 15 point gain to 6,768 with Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) leading the way higher.
The company released first quarter results which showed sales were better than expected despite falling. Shares rose 5.2% to 254p.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was also higher on speculation it will move its headquarters away from the UK after HSBC(LON:HSBA) said yesterday it was still reviewing whether or not to move. Shares gained 3.6% to 1,072p.
At the other end of the index was Weir Group (LON:WEIR) after chief executive Keith Cochrane said the second quarter “is proving to be very challenging”. Shares lost 2.5%, or 48p, to 1,874p.
In broker news, oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) was bumped up to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ by CitiGroup. Shares rose 3.9% to 188p.
Similarly, wholesaler Booker Group (LON:BOK) caught the eye of JP Morgan Cazenove after its announcement last month that it is to but Londis and Budgens from Musgrave Group.
The broker bumped up its target price by 14p to 174p and shares rose 2.6% higher to 180p.
In small caps, reach4entertainment (LON:R4E) led the early risers after it restructured and paid off its £14.7mln loan facility with AIB.
The company will replace it, in part, with new debt from new lenders at lower cost. Shares jumped more than 62% to 2.3p.
Elsewhere, Best of the Best (LON:BOTB) said turnover for the year to 30 April was £8.8mln, up from £7mln a year earlier, while pre-tax profits grew to a better than expected £810,000 from £450,000. Shares rose 6.8% to 140p.
Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) aims to ramp up its production plans after the issue of the "Detailed Exploration and Mine Production Licence" for the Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide deposit. Shares climbed almost 6% on the news to 31p.
Meanwhile, Light emitting diode (LED) designer Dialight (LON:DIA) led the fallers after the company produced a profit warning today.
“Slowdown in the rate of orders since April’s AGM statement in the Lighting segment in both the US and Europe that is likely to result in a shortfall in FY revenue” broker Northland Capital said. Shares dropped 35% to 482p.