London open: Stocks nudge up as investors eye US inflation, Fed next week
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 09 Jun 2023
(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Friday following positive sessions in the US and Asia, but gains were muted as investors eyed US inflation data and the latest policy announcement from the Federal Reserve next week.
The FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% at 7,609.52.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said investors were "non-committal" at the open, with marginal gains coming through as a nod to the reasonable sessions seen in the US and Asia".
"There was some movement in the pharmaceutical and financial sectors, although neither could gain any real traction in early exchanges," he said.
"The news from across the pond next week will potentially bring a fresh sense of direction and clarity on current central bank thinking, and with the premier index having a large bias to overseas stocks and the US in particular, any reverberations will be felt domestically.
"The FTSE 100 remains some way off the record highs achieved in February and has now added just 2.2% in the year to date, although this could bring some renewed interest in the blue chip index, if only on valuation grounds where the UK is seen as cheap compared to many of its international peers."
Investors were mulling the latest data out of China, which showed consumer price inflation rose 0.2% on the year in May, up from 0.1% in April, and versus expectations of a 0.3% increase.
Meanwhile, producer price inflation fell 4.6% in May following a 3.6% decline in April and versus expectations of a 4.3% drop. This marked the sharpest fall in more than seven years.
In equity markets, payments provider Network International surged after agreeing to be taken over by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management in a £2.2bn deal.
Croda International tumbled as it warned that full-year profits were set to fall on the previous year, citing lower sales volumes and customer destocking.
CMC Markets was a touch lower after saying it had bought a 33% stake in StrikeX Technologies, a customer centric blockchain solutions business. It did not provide any financial details.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,609.52 0.13%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,081.27 -0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,559.48 -0.04%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 75.33p 1.59%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 536.20p 0.87%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,840.00p 0.85%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,601.50p 0.77%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,166.00p 0.76%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,836.00p 0.73%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.66p 0.73%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 239.70p 0.71%
M&G (MNG) 202.60p 0.70%
Next (NXT) 6,536.00p 0.68%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Croda International (CRDA) 5,370.00p -10.86%
British Land Company (BLND) 347.60p -0.97%
Halma (HLMA) 2,415.00p -0.90%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,030.00p -0.59%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,150.00p -0.54%
BP (BP.) 470.40p -0.48%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,968.00p -0.47%
Sage Group (SGE) 863.60p -0.37%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,710.00p -0.34%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 468.10p -0.34%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Network International Holdings (NETW) 384.00p 5.84%
Mitie Group (MTO) 104.00p 4.52%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 255.50p 3.82%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 26.50p 2.95%
FirstGroup (FGP) 139.00p 2.81%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 100.00p 2.62%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,718.00p 2.37%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 503.00p 2.03%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 408.50p 1.62%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 148.20p 1.51%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
AJ Bell (AJB) 301.60p -4.62%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 213.40p -4.48%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 700.00p -3.98%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 168.40p -3.88%
Essentra (ESNT) 178.80p -3.14%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,956.00p -2.61%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 249.20p -2.58%
Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 118.00p -2.48%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 88.00p -2.44%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 408.20p -2.44%
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