LONDON (ShareCast) - After finishing the previous session at a two-month high, UK stocks were treading water on Monday as investors paused for breath.
The FTSE 100 was down just six points, or 0.09%, at 6,744.94 by midday, with Petrofac providing a drag on the blue-chip index after a profit warning. Shares in the oilfield services firm were around 25% lower by noon.
The Footsie finished Friday at 6,750.76, a closing level not surpassed since 22 September when it reached 6,773.63.
"This dismal display from Petrofac has done the FTSE no favours; following a strong Friday last week, the FTSE lost some steam over the weekend, and begun Monday relatively flat," said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex.
Global equity markets jumped on Friday after a surprise interest-rate cut from the People's Bank of China in an attempt to avert a sharp slowdown in growth.
Chinese authorities are reportedly set to once again cut their interest rates amid widespread concerns over a drop in prices. According to an unnamed senior economist quoted by Reuters, the country's "top leaders have changed their views" and the central bank has now moved its focus towards broad-based stimulus.
Monday's calendar was pretty quiet in terms of economic data, with the German IFO survey being the only major release due out. In the event, the business climate index rose to 104.7 from 103.2 previously, surprising analysts who had expected a small fall. Both the current assessment and expectations sub-indices also unexpectedly improved.
However, looking ahead to the rest of the week, "it looks like that there will be no sign of a breather for markets with a packed macro calendar to look forward to", according to analysts at Deutsche Bank.
There will be gross domestic product estimates in both the US and UK over the coming days, as well as inflation figures in the Eurozone and a host of data from Japan.
Investors will also be looking ahead to Thursday's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), where members will face a tough decision over whether to cut output in the wake of a 30% slump in crude prices since June.
Petrofac slumps, Friends Life jumps
Petrofac's share price dropped by a quarter after the group scaled back its profit assumptions, saying that depressed oil prices and the timing of deliveries will result in a weaker bottom line. The company said net profits for 2014 will be at the lower end of the guided $580m-600m range, but would fall to just $500m in 2015. It had previously predicted "strong earnings growth" next year.
Friends Life saw shares surge after the insurer agreed to a £5.6bn takeover from larger rival Aviva late on Friday. The deal is expected to create the UK's "leading insurance, savings and asset management business by number of customers", the companies said. However, Aviva's shares were trading firmly in the red.
BT's share price was advancing after the telecoms giant confirmed speculation that it is in talks with two UK mobile network operators "about a possible transaction in which BT would acquire their UK mobile business". It said one of these operators is O2, owned by Spanish group Telefonica.
Shares in London Stock Exchange were making decent gains after analysts at Citigroup raised their rating on the stock to 'buy' and hiked their target price from 1,750p to 2,400p.
However, the same bank cut its recommendation for Hargreaves Lansdown to 'sell', causing the share price of the financial services group to drop sharply.
Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton was lower after saying it would implement more cuts to its capital expenditure as well as reorganise its management ranks. The group said it would trim $600m from its planned capital spending to $14.2bn in the 2014-15 financial year and by $1bn to $13bn in the following 12 months.
techMARK 2,898.21 +0.15%
FTSE 100 6,744.94 -0.09%
FTSE 250 15,713.28 +0.14%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Friends Life Group Limited (FLG) 363.70p +4.60%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,166.00p +3.00%
BT Group (BT.A) 390.10p +2.66%
CRH (CRH) 1,483.00p +1.37%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,067.00p +1.33%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,514.00p +1.27%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 382.40p +1.24%
Carnival (CCL) 2,644.00p +1.03%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,515.00p +0.92%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,171.00p +0.86%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 903.50p -24.27%
Aviva (AV.) 511.50p -5.10%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 970.50p -4.10%
Royal Mail (RMG) 420.00p -2.46%
Fresnillo (FRES) 749.00p -1.90%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,073.00p -1.85%
Centrica (CNA) 286.90p -1.75%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,071.00p -1.54%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,359.00p -1.52%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,996.50p -1.50%
FTSE 250 - Risers
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 295.30p +4.53%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,382.00p +3.52%
Polymetal International (POLY) 573.00p +3.43%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 598.00p +3.10%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,104.00p +2.99%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 195.70p +2.46%
Homeserve (HSV) 332.00p +2.15%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 252.90p +2.14%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 130.50p +1.95%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,465.00p +1.95%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
FirstGroup (FGP) 109.90p -8.26%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 114.50p -4.82%
William Hill (WMH) 345.40p -3.76%
Hunting (HTG) 683.00p -3.19%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 228.70p -2.56%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 1,071.00p -2.55%
EnQuest (ENQ) 68.70p -2.28%
Lonmin (LMI) 188.80p -2.18%
Afren (AFR) 70.20p -2.16%
Stock Spirits Group (STCK) 248.60p -2.16%
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