UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Pound wobbles ahead of Brexit dinner

U.K. stocks swung between small gains and losses on Monday, but ended slightly lower with medical firm ConvaTec leading decliners after wiping out a quarter of its market value.

Miners, however, stopped the index from falling further after getting a boost from higher-than-expected Chinese producer prices.

The FTSE 100 index closed 0.1% lower at 7,526.97, after a session where it traded within a range of roughly 30 points.

"While we remain within easy distance of last week's closing record, the going has been tough of late," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, in a note.

"This is chiefly down to the impending arrival of big data and corporate earnings later in the week, which promise to replace today's snooze-fest with a more active period. While the market may be quiet, it is currently extremely intolerant of any company that dares to miss forecasts," he added.

Miners gain ground: Mining stocks were pushed up after China's producer prices leapt 6.9% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinese-producer-prices-shoot-up-69-2017-10-16) in September, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the government's statistics bureau, beating a 6.4% forecast by economists.

Metals prices rose following the report, which indicated resilience in the world's second-largest economy. Copper futures moved up more than 3%.

Shares of copper producer Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) bulked up 1.9%, and Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) tacked on 0.5%. Glencore PLC (GLEN.LN) added 1.5%, while Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) (RIO) (RIO) advanced 0.8%.

"The PPI is what's important for global inflation, since China exports so much. The jump in Chinese PPI inflation does make it marginally more likely that Western countries will hit their inflation targets," said Marshall Gittler, chief strategist at ACLS Global, in a note.

Sterling wavers: The pound swung between small gains and losses during Monday's session, buying $1.3284 at the time of the London market close, compared with $1.3285 late Friday in New York. The struggle for direction came ahead of an expected Monday night dinner in Brussels to be attended by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

May reportedly is aiming to break a deadlock between Britain and the EU in Brexit talks before this week's EU summit.

Sterling could move higher on Tuesday when U.K. inflation data for September is released in the morning.

"With the market already pricing in a 71% likelihood of a rate hike at the next Bank of England meeting in November, an acceleration in inflation--as the market expects--would cement peoples' views" and possibly push the pound higher, said Gittler.

Stock movers: ConvaTec Group PLC (CTEC.LN) plunged 27% after the medical technologies company cut its full-year sales forecast. It said its third-quarter performance was severely impacted by supply issues in both its advanced wound and ostomy care lines, and by a lower-than-anticipated revenue contribution from new products.

GKN PLC (GKN.LN) gave up 3.4%, adding to a 9.9% loss on Friday when the engineering group issued a profit warning (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gkn-margins-squeezed-by-north-america-challenges-2017-10-13).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2017 12:13 ET (16:13 GMT)

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