ITV, TalkTalk and Mondi

The blue-chip index opened lower taking its cue from overnight declines on US and Asian markets. Investors will be focusing on a glut of economic data due at midday, including the latest BoE inflation report, while another tranche of stocks go ex-dividend.

“ITV was among the early risers after a bullish update and despite its concern about uncertainty in the advertising market since the referendum debate began,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Linking adspend softness to a possible Brexit will not endear ITV to Vote Leave which has already accused the broadcaster of bias in its coverage and having its foot firmly in the Remain camp.

“Telephone and broadband provider TalkTalk continues to count the cost of last year’ cyber-attack when personal data of nearly 160,000 customers was accessed. The attack cost the company £42m and it has increased its security spending significantly. Pre-tax profits more than halved but customer ‘churn’ in the fourth quarter was the lowest in the company’s history at 1.3%.

“Paper manufacturer Mondi’s shares were up in early trading after underlying first quarter operating profits rose by 14%. There was a strong contributions from consumer packaging, uncoated fine paper and the South Africa division which more than offset the impact of lower selling prices in some packaging paper segments and margin pressure in fibre packaging. Fundamentals remain robust and the group is on course to meet forecasts.”

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