(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade, with sentiment undermined by the prospect of tighter lockdown restrictions in some parts of England and Monday's session expected to be a little quieter than usual as US markets will be closed for Columbus Day.
At 0915 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 6,005.41.

The lacklustre trading session came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to outline a new three-tier alert system for England which will divide regions up as being on 'medium', 'high' or 'very high' alert. Johnson is due to chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee and will then announce the changes in the Commons, with a press conference scheduled for 1800 BST.

Meanwhile, market participants continued to mull the prospect of more US stimulus.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "The big news over the weekend is that Nancy Pelosi has rejected the White House's improved offer of $1.8 trillion in stimulus - above the $1.6 trillion offered previously, and far beyond the $1 trillion cap Republicans are seeking, but still below the $2.2 trillion package House Democrats passed. Pelosi described the process as 'one step forward, two steps back' and that the proposal was insufficient on 'how we honour our workers, crush the virus and put money in the pockets of workers'.

"What is perhaps crucial for the markets, however, is that the Democrats and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are back at the table, after Trump had halted talks when he returned from hospital last week. The proximity of the election - and the view of Republican senators that the rejected White House offer was already excessive - still means it is perhaps unlikely that a deal will get done any time soon, but it is nevertheless an improvement on what had appeared to be the complete nixing of negotiations."

In corporate news, Aveva lost ground as the industrial software group said first-half revenue would be broadly in line with expectations and maintained full-year guidance.

Gambling group GVC was also in the red as it said it would take a £40m profits hit after being awarded four licences to operate in Germany.

Payments company Network International fell despite saying that full-year underlying net profit was set to be in line with market expectations.

On the upside, engine maker Rolls-Royce was the top performer on the FTSE 100, while Sanne and Hochschild were boosted by upgrades to 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Rolls Royce shares have continued to recover after last week's share price surge saw the best weekly performance in over 30 years. While some have suggested that part of the rebound may have been partly driven by bid speculation, this seems unlikely given the failure of KIO and Singapore's GIC in this regard, with the UK government's golden stake a big obstacle.

"It seems more likely that having removed the doubts over its short-term future, with the securing of extra funding, investors are taking a longer-term view that the company is now in better shape to re-orientate its business model to deal with the challenges of the next ten years."

XP Power rallied after it said revenue in the third quarter "progressed positively" as the "exceptionally strong" order intake seen in the first half translated into product shipments.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,005.41 -0.19%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,192.10 0.65%
techMARK (TASX) 3,905.58 0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 234.80p 5.20%
Evraz (EVR) 364.20p 2.10%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,340.50p 1.82%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 310.70p 1.80%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,567.00p 1.75%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,208.00p 1.58%
BT Group (BT.A) 108.60p 1.40%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,383.00p 1.39%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 112.70p 1.39%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 795.60p 1.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Aveva Group (AVV) 4,563.00p -3.65%
Next (NXT) 6,284.00p -2.69%
BP (BP.) 218.05p -1.82%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 962.00p -1.73%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 1,073.00p -1.60%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,366.00p -1.54%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,001.00p -1.52%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 372.70p -1.09%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,293.00p -1.06%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,241.50p -1.04%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sanne Group (SNN) 695.00p 11.38%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 252.60p 4.47%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 54.00p 3.45%
Indivior (INDV) 111.40p 3.24%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 87.56p 3.18%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 314.00p 2.88%
Beazley (BEZ) 336.80p 2.75%
Future (FUTR) 1,998.00p 2.57%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 410.20p 2.55%
IWG (IWG) 294.80p 2.50%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Energean (ENOG) 557.50p -3.26%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 301.20p -2.65%
National Express Group (NEX) 170.50p -2.52%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 30.80p -1.91%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 411.50p -1.56%
FirstGroup (FGP) 50.50p -1.27%
easyJet (EZJ) 506.80p -1.13%
888 Holdings (888) 268.50p -1.10%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,444.00p -1.05%
Fidelity European Values (FEV) 266.50p -0.93%