London stocks nudged up in early trade on Wednesday as investors remained optimistic of an end to the longest US government shutdown in history, but gains were minimal after recent highs.
At 0900 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 9,912.07, having hit a fresh high of 9,928.

Investors were keeping a close eye on the US, where a vote is due in the House of Representatives to pass the funding bill ending the shutdown.

Danske Bank said: "After the shutdown ends, the data collected until September should be released very quickly, likely within a few days. The most important releases would be the Jobs Report, retail sales and Q3 GDP.

"However, the October releases will likely be delayed further as the shutdown has interfered with the data collection period. This means that even if the shutdown ends by Thursday, we believe the October CPI release will still be delayed."

In equity markets, SSE surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it said it will spend billions on the UK's electricity network as it unveiled a five-year investment plan alongside interim results. The power generator said the £33bn, five-year plan would increase its exposure to UK electricity networks and drive earnings growth.

The update came as it posed a 29% fall in interim adjusted earnings per share, to 36.1p, which SSE said was in line with expectations and consistent with typical seasonality.

Games Workshop got a boost after Jefferies hiked its price target on the stock to 18,300p from 11,850, keeping a 'buy' rating.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry was in the black ahead of interim results on Thursday.

Defence contractor BAE edged up as it held annual guidance and cautioned that delays to contract funding and payment timings could occur if the US government shutdown persisted.

The company said trading in the second half was in line with expectations. BAE said it was "encouraged" by a vote in the US Senate to approve a compromise bill to resume funding until the end of January which still needs lower house and presidential approval.

Avon Technologies shot higher as it posted full-year revenue and operating profit ahead of market expectations.

Marshalls rose as it backed its full-year expectations and hailed a "resilient" performance in the nine months to 10 October, with group revenue up 2% on the same period a year ago to £548m.

On the downside, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey fell after saying it still expects full-year results to be in line with guidance despite experiencing "softer market conditions" so far in the second half.

Net private sales per outlet averaged 0.63 a week since 30 June, down from 0.71 the year before, while underlying pricing remains broadly flat, impacted by uncertainty ahead of the upcoming Autumn Budget and continued affordability pressures on consumers, the company said.

The housebuilder said results were impacted by uncertainty ahead of the upcoming Autumn Budget and continued affordability pressures on consumers.

Other housebuilders fell, with Berkeley, Persimmon, Bellway and Vistry all weaker.

Budget airline EasyJet flew lower after Jet2 announced that it would start flying from Gatwick airport.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,912.07 0.13%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,158.60 0.04%
techMARK (TASX) 5,617.50 -0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

SSE (SSE) 2,207.00p 11.78%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,258.00p 4.40%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 16,050.00p 4.22%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 42.85p 1.66%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,405.00p 1.52%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,336.00p 1.48%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,111.00p 1.06%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 307.20p 1.05%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 386.80p 1.04%
Diageo (DGE) 1,868.50p 0.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

easyJet (EZJ) 467.60p -2.30%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 714.40p -2.06%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,026.00p -2.00%
Tesco (TSCO) 453.10p -1.91%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,234.00p -1.75%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,487.00p -1.58%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,375.00p -1.50%
Experian (EXPN) 3,427.00p -1.49%
Rightmove (RMV) 567.20p -1.43%
WPP (WPP) 298.80p -1.39%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Smithson Investment Trust (SSON) 1,630.00p 6.68%
Avon Technologies (AVON) 1,970.00p 5.91%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 309.80p 3.82%
Drax Group (DRX) 723.00p 2.70%
Marshalls (MSLH) 176.60p 2.67%
Mitie Group (MTO) 167.20p 2.45%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 754.00p 2.45%
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 978.70p 2.29%
Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 401.80p 1.57%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 503.00p 1.51%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 102.05p -3.54%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 230.25p -1.81%
Blackrock Throgmorton Trust (THRG) 600.00p -1.80%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 138.00p -1.71%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,025.00p -1.70%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 163.50p -1.51%
Vistry Group (VTY) 659.00p -1.41%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,555.00p -1.39%
Bellway (BWY) 2,756.00p -1.36%
Currys (CURY) 132.00p -1.35%