London opened slightly higher, with the FTSE 100 up 0.1% in early trade. The FTSE 250 is up 0.2%, and Brent is flat at $105.77.
European peers are firmer, with the DAX up 0.3%, the CAC 40 up 0.5% and the Stoxx 50 0.6%. Spot gold is down 0.3% at $4,149, and GBPUSD is flat at $1.3257.
Oil steady despite Gulf strikes
The Saudi energy ministry said a strike caused a small fire at an Aramco building in Dhahran, with no injuries. It followed a Houthi warning to civilians to evacuate Saudi oil sites.
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The Saudi-led coalition is meanwhile striking Houthi energy terminals and fuel reserves in Yemen.
FTSE 250: Softcat slides, Big Yellow jumps
The mid-cap index has the sharpest moves.
Company
Change
Why
Big Yellow
+5.07%
Ancora stake report
Greencore
+3.80%
Chemring
+3.24%
US radar altimeter deal
Softcat
-7.17%
Full-year results
Keller
-3.80%
Capital markets day, new targets
Meridian Mining
-2.51%
Big Yellow rose after US activist Ancora disclosed a stake above 4%, and Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Ancora is pushing it to explore a sale.
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Softcat fell after it reported underlying operating profit up 19.4% to £215.1m and guided to high single-digit growth next year excluding its $1,050m GDT acquisition.
Chemring’s Roke unit signed a deal worth at least $170m over five years. Keller set new medium-term targets ahead of a capital markets day at 1:30pm, with trading in line.
FTSE 100 movers and US banks
Burberry is up 2.60%, Babcock International 1.76% and British Land 1.40%. Computacenter is down 2.28%, Admiral 2.13% and Standard Chartered 1.80%.
Sam is a trader and lead stock market writer at AskTraders. After starting his career in the forex market, Sam now focuses on stocks, specifically consumer staples.
