London open: Aggreko drags Footsie lower early on

17th Dec 2012 08:18

The FTSE 100 opened flat on Monday morning with the focus firmly on the impending 'fiscal cliff' in the US as markets prepare for the Christmas holiday. Aggreko was providing a drag on the index after giving a gloomy outlook for 2013."European equities are trading little changed to slightly higher this morning on news that in Japan the Liberal Democratic Party has won a landslide victory and in the US, Republicans indicating that they might be willing to talk about tax increases," said Markus Huber, the head of German HNW trading at ETX Capital.This weekend, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) took 294 seats in the 480-seat lower lower house. With its partner Komeito, the LDP will control 325 seats. "It is time to put an end to the last three years of inept political leadership, confusion and stagnation," said LDP leader Shinzo Abe.Market analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Market said this morning: "Part of the LDP's election manifesto was the setting of a clear inflation target of 2% and to work towards that by means of aggressive monetary easing with the help of the Bank of Japan." Meanwhile, rthe 'fiscal cliff' has been dominating market sentiment over the past month, as law-makers in the US continue to go back and forth in discussions to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases which come into effect at the start of 2013. House Speaker John Boehner is facing increasing pressure to soften his stance on higher taxes."There does appear some evidence that he is starting to lean this way after he suggested raising taxes for incomes over $1m," CMC's Hewson said.Company newsTemporary power and temperature control solutions group Aggreko tanked this morning after giving a gloomy outlook for next year, saying that its performance would likely be lower than the 2012.The firm pointed out that the Olympics contract was just a one-off contract, while it will be hit by the planned reduction in numbers of US troops in Afghanistan which will lead to a further reduction in Military revenues. Meanwhile, it is waiting on a Japanese client to see whether it wants to extend its contracts into the second half of 2013. Revenues from these three issues combined will dent the top line by £100m in 2013, the group said.Egypt-focused gold mining and exporting company Centamin surged after confirming that the halt by customs on gold exports from Sukari has been lifted and a shipment was made on Sunday December 16th.Real estimate investment trust British Land fell despite saying that its half-owned Leadenhall Building in the City of London is to be 51% pre-let.Energy services group Hunting dropped after it said that it is trading in line with its expectations for the full year but cautioned that the short-term outlook is increasingly cautious due to tough market conditions in a number of its operating regions. FTSE 100 - RisersKazakhmys (KAZ) 771.00p +1.71%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 272.30p +0.85%Melrose Industries (MRO) 229.10p +0.75%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,413.50p +0.69%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,183.00p +0.68%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,112.00p +0.63%United Utilities Group (UU.) 707.00p +0.57%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,106.50p +0.55%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 768.00p +0.52%Croda International (CRDA) 2,373.00p +0.51%FTSE 100 - FallersAggreko (AGK) 1,791.00p -15.72%Vodafone Group (VOD) 157.75p -1.99%BT Group (BT.A) 235.90p -0.72%Serco Group (SRP) 538.00p -0.65%Diageo (DGE) 1,825.00p -0.52%G4S (GFS) 251.40p -0.44%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,215.00p -0.40%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 301.20p -0.36%Compass Group (CPG) 735.50p -0.34%BG Group (BG.) 1,038.00p -0.34%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 42.75p +23.41%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 282.70p +4.98%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 408.00p +3.61%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 110.50p +3.17%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,480.00p +2.71%Workspace Group (WKP) 314.90p +2.67%Bumi (BUMI) 275.20p +2.30%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 98.75p +2.23%Sports Direct International (SPD) 375.30p +2.15%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 205.70p +1.98%FTSE 250 - FallersCookson Group (CKSN) 604.00p -5.40%Hunting (HTG) 766.50p -4.90%Computacenter (CCC) 392.10p -3.33%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 725.00p -2.95%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 173.10p -2.20%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 527.00p -2.14%PZ Cussons (PZC) 352.80p -2.00%Beazley (BEZ) 174.00p -1.86%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 95.35p -1.70%Telecom Plus (TEP) 880.00p -1.57%BC