London open: TUI Travel leads markets higher early on

27th Mar 2013 08:28

UK stocks edged higher on Wednesday morning with TUI Travel leading the rise after a decent first-half trading update, as markets tracked gains on US and Asian benchmarks overnight.Better-than-expected durable-goods orders and home prices Stateside lifted sentiment on Wall Street yesterday, pushing the S&P 500 to just two points shy of its all-time high.Supporting stocks this morning was economic data from Germany where the consumer climate shows signs of stabilising. GfK's consumer confidence survey remained stable at 5.9, in line with the consensus estimate. Markets will be looking out for more details on the terms of the bailout in Cyprus, including the size of the levy being imposed on deposits above €100,000."What people may be more interested in at this stage though is the capital controls that will be put in place in order to prevent a run on the banks when they reopen tomorrow," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari."Cypriot officials have claimed in the last couple of days that these will be light and temporary, however I fail to see how any temporary measures will prevent an inevitable run on the banks."TUI Travel flying high; ICAP slumpsLeisure travel firm TUI Travel was a high riser early on after reiterating that full-year underlying operating profits would be at the top of the 7-10% guidance range. The firm hailed a decent winter 2012/2013 season and said that trading momentum going into the summer is "very strong".Interdealer broker ICAP said trading conditions in the last nine months have been extremely challenging and it expects full-year revenue to be 13% lower than the previous year, causing shares to tank.Leading the downside was BSkyB, Smiths Group, British Land, Prudential and Schroders after going ex-dividend. Mining stocks were in demand this morning following the sector's recent weakness, having lost 9.0% over the last month. Kazakhmys and ENRC were rebounding slightly after heavy falls the day before. Kazakhmys yesterday took a $2.2bn impairment charge after writing down its value of its 26% stake in ENRC.Egypt-focused gold producer Centamin rose after saying that full-year production increased by nearly a third in 2012 while EBITDA jumped 10%. Sector peers Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resources and Antofagasta were also on the up early on, with the latter lifted by an upgrade by Fox-Davies to 'hold'.Energy services giant Wood Group was higher after receiving a "significant" three-year extension to its North Sea contract with CNR International, topping off an impressive week of contract wins for the firm.FTSE 100 - RisersTUI Travel (TT.) 322.90p +4.03%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 265.50p +2.12%Rexam (REX) 529.50p +1.83%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,223.00p +1.65%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,135.50p +1.62%Glencore International (GLEN) 361.70p +1.34%easyJet (EZJ) 1,073.00p +1.32%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,355.00p +1.27%Xstrata (XTA) 1,088.00p +1.16%Sage Group (SGE) 341.00p +1.13%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 279.90p -2.13%Prudential (PRU) 1,083.00p -1.37%Schroders (SDR) 2,102.00p -1.31%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,252.00p -1.26%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 878.50p -1.24%BT Group (BT.A) 274.30p -1.19%Vodafone Group (VOD) 185.80p -1.04%British Land Co (BLND) 545.00p -0.82%Aviva (AV.) 301.20p -0.82%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.34p -0.66%FTSE 250 - RisersKazakhmys (KAZ) 430.40p +6.19%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 182.70p +5.67%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 209.00p +2.75%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 601.50p +2.47%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 118.40p +2.33%Rank Group (RNK) 175.90p +2.27%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 12.04 +2.03%KCOM Group (KCOM) 82.90p +1.72%Ocado Group (OCDO) 157.50p +1.61%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,949.00p +1.51%FTSE 250 - FallersICAP (IAP) 300.10p -6.97%Spirent Communications (SPT) 145.00p -3.01%John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd (JLIF) 113.50p -2.16%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 55.15p -1.96%Premier Oil (PMO) 386.90p -1.78%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 757.50p -1.62%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 274.00p -1.58%IP Group (IPO) 144.50p -1.43%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 559.00p -1.41%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 360.50p -1.23%BC