- Japanese export data misses forecasts
- US corporate earnings in focus
- Aggreko extends losses

US corporate earnings and some disappointing economic data from Japan were weighing on stocks in London on Monday morning.

Japanese exports declined 10.3% last month, worse than the 5.8% decrease in August and the 9.9% fall expected. The trade deficit was 588.6bn yen, higher than the 547.9bn expected by a consensus of analysts. Imports rose by a more-than-expected 4.1%.

"With the economic data schedule on the light side today main focus will be once again on US corporate earnings with Caterpillar, Texas Instruments and Yahoo scheduled to report," said Markus Huber from ETX Capital.

He said: "Overall markets are expected to be range-bound today with a continuing slight bias to the downside as neither an aid request from Spain has been forthcoming so far nor have earnings out of the US managed to completely convince traders that the earnings situation will be getting better any time soon."

FTSE 100: Aggreko suffers from downgrade


Temporary power and temperature control group Aggreko was extending losses after announcing on Friday that exchange rates and increased bad debt provisions will have a 2.5% negative impact on its full-year bottom line.

Today, the stock was being dampened by a downgrade by HSBC to 'underweight'. HSBC, along with fellow brokers Jefferies, JPMorgan Cazenove and Barclays Capital, also cut its target price for the shares.

Oil giant BP was lower after confirming that it is in advanced talks with Russian state oil firm Rosneft over the sale of its 50% stake in TNK-BP.

Global power systems group Rolls-Royce made gains after being awarded a contract by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) to supply its Spinline digital safety instrumentation and control technology (I&C) for the modernisation programme of the Ling Ao nuclear power plant.

FTSE 250: Devro drops after profit warning


Devro, a sausage casing supplier, has warned that full-year operating profits will be slightly below expectations, although still ahead of last year. Shares tanked in the opening hour.

Trading systems developer Fidessa fell after warning persistent challenges in the financial markets weighed on third-quarter equity market volumes; the on-going pressure means that full-year revenue is likely to be unchanged from the year before.

Central Europe-focused coal and coke producer New World Resources was in the red after saying that one of its employees was fatally injured at a mine in the Czech Republic at the weekend.

Heading the other way was aerospace technology group Senior after saying that it was on track to hit 2012 profit expectations despite a deterioration in some markets.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,550.00p +1.82%
Barclays (BARC) 236.55p +1.15%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,316.00p +1.00%
Evraz (EVR) 250.60p +0.93%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,914.00p +0.92%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 328.80p +0.92%
Aviva (AV.) 339.70p +0.74%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,904.00p +0.63%
Old Mutual (OML) 178.70p +0.62%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,368.00p +0.51%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,818.00p -1.99%
Aggreko (AGK) 2,097.00p -1.87%
GKN (GKN) 207.70p -1.24%
Centrica (CNA) 327.20p -1.15%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,154.50p -1.13%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 160.50p -1.05%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,670.00p -0.84%
SSE (SSE) 1,438.00p -0.83%
BG Group (BG.) 1,340.00p -0.78%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,030.00p -0.77%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Senior (SNR) 205.40p +4.64%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 135.90p +2.80%
Ted Baker (TED) 939.50p +2.12%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 785.00p +2.08%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 102.40p +1.99%
Redrow (RDW) 159.20p +1.79%
Raven Russia Ltd (RUS) 68.70p +1.78%
Grainger (GRI) 109.40p +1.58%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 120.00p +1.52%
Renishaw (RSW) 1,721.00p +1.41%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Devro (DVO) 311.00p -7.44%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,320.00p -3.79%
Spectris (SXS) 1,712.00p -3.77%
Bumi (BUMI) 247.80p -3.05%
Perform Group (PER) 438.60p -2.53%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 751.50p -2.40%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 537.50p -2.09%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 66.40p -1.99%
Drax Group (DRX) 522.00p -1.97%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 105.40p -1.77%

BC

Related share prices
BP (BP.) share price
Aggreko (AGK) share price
Senior (SNR) share price
Fidessa Group (FDSA) share price
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) share price