London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as GDP beats expectations
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 11 Apr 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Friday despite losses on Wall Street, as investors mulled better-than-expected UK GDP data.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around 85 points higher.
Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that the economy grew more than expected in February.
The economy expanded by 0.5% on the month, comfortably beating consensus expectations for a 0.1% increase. This followed no growth in January, revised up from a 0.1% decline.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The economy grew strongly in February, with broad-based growth across both services and manufacturing.
"In services, we saw strong performances from sectors like computer programming, telecoms, and car dealerships. Meanwhile, in manufacturing, electronics and pharmaceuticals led the way, and car production also recovered after a run of weaker results.
"Looking at the broader picture, the economy has grown solidly over the past three months, with widespread gains across the services sector."
Meanwhile, industry data showed that retail footfall tumbled in March after the late timing of Easter weighed heavily on the high street.
Last year, Easter - a key shopping holiday for many retailers, especially grocers - fell in March. This year, however, it falls notably later, at the end of April.
As a result, tough comparatives meant that total UK footfall was down 5.4% year-on-year in the five weeks to 5 April, sharply lower than February's 0.2% decline.
The BRC-Sensormatic data also showed a 4% decline in footfall on high streets, a 5.8% slide at shopping centres and a more marginal 1.9% fall in retail parks.
The exception was Mother's Day, which fell on 30 March and saw a 13.4% uplift year-on-year in high street footfall.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: "With Easter falling in April, footfall in March could not compete to last year, when families were already enjoying their Easter holidays.
"Despite this, footfall in retail parks held up better than other locations, as the expanding offer of hospitality and leisure outlets alongside retail, together with free parking, attracted more shoppers.
"Similarly, London saw only a minor dip in footfall compared to other parts of the country."
However, she warned: "Global uncertainties from tariffs and a potential economic slowdown could reduce the appetite for shopping trips in the coming months."
Andy Sumpter, EMEA retail consultant at Sensormatic, said: "After a bumpy few months, March made for disappointing footfall, as shopper and business confidence remains subdued, not helped by ongoing economic uncertainty and pre-spring statement jitters.
"Retailers will be hoping that strong Easter trading could help balance out a slow start to spring."
In corporate news, energy giant BP said it expected to report lower first-quarter upstream production than in the previous three months.
In a trading update, the company said it saw slightly higher volumes in oil production and operations, but expected lower output in gas and low-carbon energy. Gas marketing and trading is expected to be "weak," it added.
Convenience food group Greencore has been given an extension on the deadline to make a firm offer for rival Bakkavor to 9 May or walk away.
On 2 April, the two companies struck a £1.2bn deal after two previous approaches were rejected.
However, Bakkavor said on Friday that talks were still ongoing and requested the original April 11 deadline be pushed back to complete due diligence work.
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