London open: FTSE edges down after US losses; Landsec in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Friday following a downbeat close on Wall Street. At 0920 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,417.94.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Although market enthusiasm has stalled slightly, the FSTE remains in a relatively bright mood overall. The follows the Dow touching an all-time high yesterday, as positive expectations for the Federal Reserve's interest rate plans continue to buoy sentiment.

"The next catalyst for change will be more UK data, as company results season starts to fizzle out in earnest after today. With fewer corporate news stories in the diary, the macro picture will be the driving force over the coming weeks."

Investors were mulling the latest move by the Chinese central bank, which stepped in again to help the struggling property sector on Friday by relaxing lending rules.

The news came as data showed house prices in major cities fell last month, while industrial production and retail sales data painted a more mixed economic picture.

In equity markets, Land Securities fell despite reporting a halving of its full-year losses.

Auto Trader was under the cosh after a downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equalweight' at Morgan Stanley.

GSK was in focus after selling its remaining 4.2% stake in consumer health business Haleon, which it spun off in July 2022. The pharmaceutical company sold just over 385m ordinary shares in Haleon at 324p each, raising gross proceeds of about £1.25bn.

BT Group was on the rise again, having surged on Thursday after it reported a 31% drop in annual profits but also laid out plans to save £3bn of costs a year by the end of the decade.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,417.94 -0.25% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,767.58 -0.27% techMARK (TASX) 4,775.53 -0.35%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BT Group (BT.A) 134.50p 1.43% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,655.00p 1.18% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,715.00p 1.17% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,109.00p 1.09% Sage Group (SGE) 1,095.50p 1.01% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,151.50p 1.01% Vodafone Group (VOD) 78.20p 0.88% Barclays (BARC) 216.55p 0.77% Prudential (PRU) 833.40p 0.73% BP (BP.) 491.95p 0.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 717.40p -4.98% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,888.00p -2.45% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 9,385.00p -2.04% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,260.00p -2.02% Land Securities Group (LAND) 676.50p -1.96% easyJet (EZJ) 490.00p -1.55% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,478.00p -1.52% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,945.00p -1.49% Persimmon (PSN) 1,457.50p -1.29% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 415.00p -1.28%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Auction Technology Group (ATG) 582.00p 3.19% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 4,300.00p 2.75% Hammerson (HMSO) 29.08p 2.54% GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 77.50p 1.97% Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 651.00p 1.88% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 84.00p 1.39% Tyman (TYMN) 385.00p 1.32% Indivior (INDV) 1,369.00p 1.26% BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,500.00p 1.08% NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 78.30p 1.03%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 224.50p -4.47% Me Group International (MEGP) 165.20p -2.82% The European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT) 182.80p -2.04% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,078.00p -1.80% IWG (IWG) 202.80p -1.74% Renishaw (RSW) 3,995.00p -1.72% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,425.00p -1.72% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 184.20p -1.71% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 209.00p -1.65% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 144.00p -1.50%