LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London markets ended with a mixed outcome on Thursday, as investors digested a fresh inflation reading out of the US, as well as a slight uptick in the UK economy.

The FTSE 100 saw a moderate climb of 0.32% to 7,644.78, while its counterpart, the FTSE 250, experienced a slight dip of 0.23% to end at 17,835.69.

In the currency space, sterling was last down 0.8% against the dollar, trading at $1.2214, while it slipped 0.19% on the euro to change hands at €1.1573.

"European markets have undergone another lacklustre session drifting into the red after US headline inflation followed yesterday's PPI numbers coming in a little bit hotter than expected, pushing yields higher," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.

"The FTSE 100 is once again finding support from a resilient oil and gas sector, and higher oil and gas prices, with BP and Shell outperforming, while travel and leisure appears to be stuck on the tarmac."

Hewson noted that investors were reacting underwhelmingly to easyJet's fourth quarter pre-close trading update, which saw the airline confirm a return to profit for the year.

"Headline profit before tax is expected to come in between £440m and £460m.

"This was slightly below consensus forecasts, and while disappointing is still a vast improvement on last year."

August sees UK economic uplift; US inflation comes in hotter than expected

In economic news, the UK economy grew in August, according to fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Gross domestic product (GDP) edged up 0.2%, meeting analysts' expectations and providing a contrast against July's revised contraction of 0.6%.

Whilst the services sector experienced an uptick of 0.4%, both the production and construction sectors witnessed shrinkages of 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

"Our initial estimate suggests GDP grew a little in August, led by strong growth in services which was partially offset by falls in manufacturing and construction," said ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan.

"Within services, education returned to normal levels, while computer programmers and engineers both had strong months.

"Across the last three months as a whole, the economy has grown modestly, led by car manufacturing and sales, and construction."

Across the Atlantic, US inflation rates remained relatively consistent in September, as per the Bureau of Labour Statistics data.

The annual rise in the consumer price index (CPI) was pegged at 3.7%, aligning with August and marginally outpacing projections for 3.6% growth.

Monthly prices in September experienced a 0.4% rise - a slight deceleration compared to August's 0.6%, but surpassing the anticipated 0.3% increase.

Furthermore, core inflation saw a year-on-year rise of 4.1%, sliding down from August's 4.4%, and observed a monthly climb of 0.3%, congruent with both the prior month and consensus forecasts.

Michael Peace, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, said that with most of the month-on-month increase driven by higher energy prices and a surprise rebound in shelter inflation - both of which he expected to partly reverse in the coming months - the underlying trend in inflation was still down.

"This report will not change the message from Fed officials over recent days that they can afford to be patient," he said.

Elsewhere, initial unemployment claims in the US remained steady at 209,000 in the week ended 7 October, according to the Department of Labor, defying economists' predictions of 214,000.

A decline was noted in the four-week moving average, which descended by 3,000, settling at 206,250.

Secondary unemployment claims, however, marked a rise, increasing by 30,000 to stand at 1.702 million for the week ended 30 September.

"Elsewhere today, the unchanged jobless claims print keeps the numbers some 25K below the trend before September's drop, but the rebound in WARN notices points to significantly higher numbers later in the fall," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Restaurant Group surges on acquisition news, Mobico plunges after warning

On London's equity markets, Wagamama owner the Restaurant Group surged 36.19% following news that it had agreed to a £700m acquisition deal by private equity firm Apollo.

Mitchells & Butlers was also buoyed by the news, enjoying a healthy climb of 3.21%.

In the energy domain, BP and Shell ascended 2.92% and 1.42%, respectively, riding the wave of persistently high oil prices despite being below recent peaks.

On the downside, Taylor Wimpey, Kingfisher, WPP, and Tesco experienced dips of 4.71%, 1.08%, 1.45%, and 0.54% as they traded without dividend entitlements.

Low-cost carrier easyJet was off 6.3%, despite announcing a record fourth-quarter profit and declaring plans to resume dividend payments, along with an announcement of a fleet expansion deal with Airbus.

Mobico Group plunged 27.71% following an announcement of a cut in its full-year earnings outlook.

The transport operator, formerly known as National Express, revealed it was exploring the sale of its North American school bus business and would be suspending its final dividend.

Darktrace and Oxford Instruments slipped 0.99% and 6.6%, respectively, after releasing their latest updates.

Finally, Barclays slid 3.05% following news that its former chief executive Jes Staley was fined nearly £2m and banned by the City watchdog due to his relationships with the notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,644.78 0.32%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,835.69 -0.23%
techMARK (TASX) 4,201.46 0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BP (BP.) 536.10p 3.04%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,120.00p 1.97%
Sage Group (SGE) 1,020.00p 1.90%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,794.00p 1.87%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 481.50p 1.73%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,120.00p 1.61%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,068.50p 1.38%
Shell (SHEL) 2,681.00p 1.32%
Experian (EXPN) 2,811.00p 1.01%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,764.00p 0.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 111.00p -4.93%
Fresnillo (FRES) 528.80p -3.19%
Barclays (BARC) 152.28p -3.12%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 572.20p -2.62%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,439.00p -2.31%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,407.50p -2.26%
Beazley (BEZ) 526.50p -2.14%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 600.00p -1.51%
WPP (WPP) 735.60p -1.45%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 147.65p -1.44%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 128.80p 3.87%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 258.90p 3.68%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 213.00p 3.50%
Me Group International (MEGP) 154.40p 3.35%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,598.00p 2.83%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 195.00p 2.74%
CAB Payments Holdings (CABP) 220.00p 2.56%
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 170.70p 2.52%
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 74.90p 2.32%
Coats Group (COA) 71.70p 2.28%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mobico Group (MCG) 61.60p -27.53%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,882.00p -7.97%
easyJet (EZJ) 406.30p -6.98%
Primary Health Properties (PHP) 89.75p -3.75%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 106.00p -3.64%
NCC Group (NCC) 108.00p -3.57%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 125.10p -3.32%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 486.00p -3.28%
Supermarket Income Reit (SUPR) 74.50p -3.25%
Assura (AGR) 40.96p -3.12%

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