London open: Miners pace the gains as investors eye ADP report.


London stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday, with miners pacing the gains as investors eyed the US ADP report ahead of Thursday’s non-farm payrolls release.

Source: Sharecast

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,807.90.

ING said: "ADP is no perfect predictor of official payrolls, but with employment data central to the dovish Fed narrative, market sensitivity to these figures is elevated. Consensus is for a rebound to 96k from 37k. Challenger job cuts will also be in focus.

"Trade tensions are returning to the spotlight as well. President Trump has signalled no extension of reciprocal tariffs beyond 9 July, though markets are wary of taking this at face value given recent reversals.

"The prevailing view may be that global tariff threats peak before another last-minute reprieve, but this time markets may focus more on bilateral risks for countries like Japan, Canada, or the EU."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were among the top performers, with Glencore, Anglo American and Antofagasta all up.

SSP surged as the hospitality group said its joint-owned Indian operations will be worth up to £1.23bn in a proposed stock market listing in Mumbai as it announced the purchase of an additional stake to give it majority control.

The company, which operates convenience food stores and restaurants in travel gateways across 40 countries, plans to list the Travel Food Services joint venture with K Hospitality Corp on 14 July.

Spectris rallied as KKR agreed a deal to the buy precision instrument maker for £4.7bn, trumping a potential offer from rival Advent.

On the downside, Bytes Technology tumbled as it warned that first-half operating profit was set to be "marginally" lower than last year amid a "challenging" macro environment.

Ahead of its annual general meeting, the software, security, cloud and AI services specialist said trading across the first months of the year has been impacted by a challenging macroeconomic environment. This has led to some deferral of customer buying decisions, particularly in the corporate sector.

Bakery chain Greggs slumped as it cautioned that FY25 operating profits may be "modestly below" FY24 despite first-half sales growth.

Greggs said it had made good progress in May but this was followed by slower growth in June as high temperatures affected the UK, increasing demand for cold drinks but reducing overall footfall.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,807.90 0.26%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,707.97 -0.16%
techMARK (TASX) 5,085.45 -0.18%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 299.10p 2.70%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,211.00p 2.45%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,338.00p 2.33%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,217.00p 2.02%
Barclays (BARC) 335.70p 1.82%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,231.50p 1.73%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,329.00p 1.52%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 883.00p 1.42%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,858.00p 1.42%
BP (BP.) 373.15p 1.33%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 260.00p -4.41%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,210.00p -1.67%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,840.50p -1.21%
Haleon (HLN) 371.80p -1.01%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,285.50p -1.00%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,108.50p -0.94%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,338.00p -0.93%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,506.00p -0.83%
Next (NXT) 12,440.00p -0.80%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,444.00p -0.76%

FTSE 250 - Risers

SSP Group (SSPG) 182.50p 5.01%
Spectris (SXS) 4,016.00p 4.86%
Trainline (TRN) 294.80p 4.10%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 537.00p 3.07%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 227.00p 2.71%
SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 57.50p 2.68%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 373.00p 2.19%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,095.00p 2.05%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 192.20p 1.85%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 83.40p 1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 379.20p -25.43%
Greggs (GRG) 1,700.00p -13.92%
Softcat (SCT) 1,614.00p -6.54%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 302.20p -4.73%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,360.00p -3.83%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 190.60p -2.16%
The Global Smaller Companies Trust (GSCT) 160.00p -1.72%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,235.00p -1.52%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 642.00p -1.38%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 738.00p -1.34%

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