FTSE 100 Up Marginally

U.K. stocks are moving in a very tight range Wednesday morning as investors wait for directional clues. Activity is mostly stock specific and volumes are not any significantly higher. Bank stocks are finding support, contributing to market’s slight upmove.

The benchmark FTSE 100 is up 13.02 points or 0.16% at 8,258.30.

Barclays Group is rising 2.3%. BAE Systems, HSBC Holdings, IAG, Natwest Group, Standard Chartered, Experian, Auto Trader Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings and 3i are up 1 to 2%.

United Utilities is declining more than 2.5%. Entain, Severn Trent, Next, Shell, Endeavour Mining, Airtel Africa, B&M European Value Retail, Halma, Legal & General, Vodafone and Whitbread are down 1 to 1.7%.

Shell is down by about 1.4% after the company trimmed its LNG production outlook for the fourth quarter and warned that trading results for its chemicals and oil products division are expected to be significantly lower than in the third quarter.