London’s blue chip benchmark opens marginally lower, down 0.2% at 7,003, in a thinly-traded session which sees less than £100,000 worth of trades in some FTSE 250 stocks during early deals.
Key corporate updates include Lloyds Banking Group's (LLOY) £1.9bn acquisition of credit card outfit MBNA and a share buyback programme launched by mid cap Paysafe (PAYS) to stave off short-sellers. In commodities, weaker commodity prices weigh on miners with gold and silver miner Fresnillo (FRES) the FTSE 100's biggest faller, down around 2% at £10.89.
LLOYDS BUYS MBNA
Rumours surfaced a month ago that Lloyds was mulling a bid for Bank of America's UK MBNA operation, a credit card service for borrowers with reasonable credit scores, and shares in the UK's largest lender trade 0.9% higher on confirmation of the deal at 63p.
Lloyds' share of the credit card market will increase from 15% to 26% close to market leader Barclaycard. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
PAYSAFE BUYBACK
FTSE 250 stock Paysafe, hit by a bear raid last week as short-sellers stirred up risks to the payment service provider's business model, launches a buyback programme of up to £100m helping shares 5.0% higher at 360p.
‘The management of Paysafe, together with the company’s board, believe the current share price significantly undervalues the performance of the business to date and our future prospects,’ says Paysafe in a statement.
MINERS FLAGGING
Mining stocks struggle as key commodity benchmarks post declines. Fresnillo is the blue chip benchmark's biggest loser as gold prices dip 0.7% to $1,134 (£914) per ounce.
Not far behind is industrial metals producer Antofagasta (ANTO) as uncertainty over China infrastructure spending pressures iron ore. Fellow iron producers BHP Billiton (BLT) and Rio Tinto (RIO) trade 0.7% and 0.6% lower.
Zinc is also in reverse putting pressure on Glencore (GLEN).
SMALL CAPS
Elsewhere, micro cap health care stock Provexis (PXS:AIM) is the day's biggest gainer, up 23% to 1.1p, on a successful trial of its blood pressure-reducing Fruitflow product with academics at Oslo University.
1Spatial (SPA:AIM) plunges 27% to 2p after management says the data specialist will be loss making in the year to 31 January and announces the sale of its software consultancy unit Avisen for what looks like a shocking valuation.
Avisen delivered operating profit of £300,000 in 1Spatial's last financial year and is being sold for £100,000.
Disclosure: The author owns shares in Lloyds Banking Group
