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UK stocks opened modestly lower on Wednesday as weak Chinese and German economic data tempered optimism over a cooling of US-Sino trade tensions.
At 0855, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 7.43 points, or 0.1%, at 7.243.47.
Sports apparel and equipment retailer Sports Direct reversed 4.0% on announcing that Grant Thornton had resigned as its auditor, stoking concerns about its upcoming and delayed results release.
Construction company Balfour Beatty rallied 12% to 225.36p after a cost-cutting drive helped it boost its first-half profit and hike its dividend by 31%.
Transport company FirstGroup advanced 1.2% to 116.4p on the back of news that it won a UK tender to takeover over the West Coast train line, replacing Virgin Trains.
Wealth manager Standard Life Aberdeen fell 0.4% to 249.4p, despite announcing that it had sold down a further 3.3% stake in Indian insurer HDFC Life for around £374m, lowering its holding to about 19.7%.
AstraZeneca rose 0.5% to 7,379.96p after reporting positive clinical trial results for an ovarian cancer treatment developed with Merck, and the granting of a US breakthrough therapy designation for a leukaemia drug.
Payments company Network International, which listed in April, added 1.0% to 601p despite its first-half profit halving thanks to one-off expenses related to staff remuneration and listing charges. The company also boosted underlying earnings as new customer wins helped boost sales 12%,
Property investor CLS gained 1.9% to 226.25p as it saw profits rise by more than a quarter in the first half of the year, following an increase in rental income and portfolio valuation gains.
Cybersecurity company Avast jumped 9.0% to 357.2p after upgrading its profit guidance for the year.
Water-saving technology developer Xeros Technology fell 7.6% to 8.39p, on announcing that it planned to raise between £5m and £10m via a share issue and slash its headcount as part of an exit from direct sales business by the end of 2019.