Weak Chinese data and nervousness about the upcoming Scottish referendum and the US policy decision dampened sentiment.SABMiller was rising strongly early on after a takeover offer for Heineken was rejected; TUI Travel gained after agreeing to merge with holding company TUI AG; Micro Focus jumped after a tie-up with The Attachmate Group.

Nevertheless, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 was trading 0.4 per cent lower at 6,777 within the opening hour. The index has not closed below this level since 22 August when it settled at 6,775.25.

The latest spate of data out from China’s statistics bureau came in below economists’ forecasts and may add to worries about prospects for China’s economic growth in the near term. In particular, the annual rate of industrial production growth eased from 9 per cent to 6.9 per cent in August, while fixed asset investment growth slowed from 17 per cent to 16.5 per cent.

“As if traders didn’t have enough to contend with this week what with the Scottish Referendum and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, China has flapped its hands in the air to remind everyone that they are facing an abrupt slowdown,” said dealer Jonathan Sudaria from Capital Spreads.

“With positive cues evaporating and uncertainty stacking up it’s only natural that risk aversion is setting in early this week.”

Tensions in eastern Ukraine were also weighing on stocks as fighting continued despite a ceasefire agreed by leaders. Northern Donetsk was the centre of the voilence over the weekend, with at least six people killed, according to reports.

M&A: SABMiller, TUI Travel, Micro Focus

Shares in SABMiller jumped nearly 5 per cent after Dutch brewer Heineken confirmed that the UK company had approached its board with an offer. The latter said it had consulted with its majority shareholder and decided that its proposal is “non-actionable”. Beverages peer Diageo was also in demand.

TUI Travel and its German holding company TUI AG have reached an agreement on the terms for an all-share nil premium merger of the two companies, helping shares in the London stock higher.

Software group Micro Focus International surged nearly 11 per cent after saying that it is to merge with The Attachmate Group in a $2.4bn deal which “presents a rare opportunity to achieve a significant increase in the scale and breadth” of the business.

Leading the downside were oil and gas stocks as crude prices declined for a second day on the back of the weak Chinese data. BP, BG Group and Shell were all trading in the red.

FTSE 100 – Risers
SABMiller (SAB) 3,568.50p +4.79%
TUI Travel (TT.) 366.80p +1.86%
Diageo (DGE) 1,841.00p +1.57%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,654.00p +1.26%
Pearson (PSON) 1,190.00p +1.02%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,356.00p +0.30%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,635.00p +0.22%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 850.00p +0.12%
Fresnillo (FRES) 816.50p +0.06%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,697.00p +0.04%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 935.00p -2.04%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 382.30p -1.80%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,047.00p -1.69%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 702.00p -1.47%
BP (BP.) 463.50p -1.41%
Sage Group (SGE) 377.50p -1.38%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 73.59p -1.33%
GKN (GKN) 343.20p -1.32%
BG Group (BG.) 1,163.00p -1.32%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,669.00p -1.29%

Source: ShareCast