On a quite day for corporate and macro-economic news the FTSE 100 is struggling for direction. The index is down a handful of points at 7,518.82 in early trading.
Medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew (SN.) slips 1.2% to £13.75 on news chief executive Oliver Bohuon is to retire by the end of next year after seven years at the company.
Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror (TNI) ticks up 0.6% to 83.75p as it says it continues to make progress on talks to acquire Northern & Shell's publishing assets, including the Daily Express and Daily Star, and says full year results will be in line with expectations despite an 8% like-for-like revenue drop in the third quarter.
The market appears relieved by the scale of the projected claims faced by insurance firm Lancashire (LRE) from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and two earthquakes in Mexico. The FTSE 250 business puts the net ultimate losses from these events in a range between $106m and $212m. The shares are up 1.7% at 674p.
Small cap oil explorer Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG:AIM) gains 210.7% to 174p as partner Statoil announces a sidetrack well on the Verbier prospect in the North Sea could contain up to 130m barrels of oil. A previous well on Verbier was unsuccessful and saw Jersey's shares drop more than 80%.
