London open: Stocks flat amid Middle East woes

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Monday as a boost from rising oil prices was offset by concerns about the conflict in the Middle East. At 0900 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,599.29.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "With the number of moving parts on the increase, investors are tending to err on the side of caution.

"The possibility of escalating violence in the Middle East and the potential for the conflict to fan out to the wider region has seen a shift in favour of haven assets, with the US dollar, Treasury bonds and gold all spiking.

"At the same time the oil price has moved higher once more on potential supply disruptions, while in the US a consumer sentiment survey suggested some deterioration."

In equity markets, miners advanced in tandem with metals prices, with Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Glencore all up.

St James's Place was the top riser, having tanked on Friday after confirming it was reviewing its fees and charges structure.

Severn Trent gained after Jefferies upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'underperform'.

Online supermarket Ocado was the worst performer on the FTSE 100, knocked lower by a downgrade to 'underweight' at Barclays.

Hipgnosis tumbled after saying it had abandoned plans to pay an interim dividend in order to make sure it complies with its debt covenants, as it now expects lower payments from its US catalogue.

Elsewhere, Mike Ashely's Frasers Group was in focus as it upped its stake in fast fashion retailer Boohoo to 15.1% from 13.4%. Last week, the company - which owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Flannels, among others - increased the stake from 9.1%.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,599.29 0.00% FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,453.68 0.00% techMARK (TASX) 4,148.93 -0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

St James's Place (STJ) 649.60p 1.47% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,134.00p 1.20% Prudential (PRU) 893.40p 1.06% Next (NXT) 6,926.00p 1.05% Glencore (GLEN) 460.95p 1.02% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,470.00p 0.94% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,469.00p 0.90% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,409.50p 0.89% Beazley (BEZ) 526.00p 0.86% Shell (SHEL) 2,744.50p 0.83%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 509.80p -3.96% Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,121.00p -1.90% Experian (EXPN) 2,743.00p -1.19% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,858.00p -1.06% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 672.00p -1.03% Compass Group (CPG) 2,052.00p -0.97% Airtel Africa (AAF) 117.10p -0.93% Halma (HLMA) 1,880.00p -0.87% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,960.00p -0.83% Fresnillo (FRES) 547.60p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

IP Group (IPO) 52.70p 7.33% NCC Group (NCC) 108.00p 3.65% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,814.00p 2.18% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 156.75p 2.08% Energean (ENOG) 864.00p 1.65% SThree (STEM) 352.50p 1.59% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 337.60p 1.56% Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 1,690.00p 1.56% Petershill Partners (PHLL) 147.00p 1.24% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,586.00p 1.15%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 64.20p -13.13% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 245.00p -2.70% Darktrace (DARK) 355.90p -2.57% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 172.70p -1.87% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,760.00p -1.86% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 487.00p -1.74% Essentra (ESNT) 167.80p -1.53% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 83.25p -1.48% Spectris (SXS) 3,169.00p -1.43% Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 369.00p -1.34%