London close: FTSE little changed as investors mull City shake-up, US PPI

(Sharecast News) - London stocks ended little changed on Friday, as investors mulled Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's City regulation shake-up and looked ahead to key central bank announcements next week. The FTSE 100 closed up just 0.1% higher at 7,476.63.

Markets participants were mulling details of Hunt's plans, which were published online. These include a relaxation of rules on what banks can do with their money and a new requirement for regulators to make London more competitive internationally, among other things.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "Hunt is trying to prove to the financial sector that he is very much pro-business and in favour of the City of London as a key growth engine to the economy.

"However there is a risk that the Treasury is acting myopically, quickly forgetting the pre-2008 excessive risk taking that ultimately led to the global financial crisis and the introduction of new regulation to prevent another similar catastrophe."

Investors were also digesting the latest US producer price inflation figures for November, which were a touch hotter than expected.

The PPI rose 0.3% on the month, coming in above consensus expectations of 0.2%. On the year, meanwhile, PPI increased 7.4%.

Berenberg said: "Taken together, November's PPI suggests that while some inflationary pressures have peaked or begun to moderate, the disinflationary process remains at an early stage, with signs thus far suggesting inflation is likely to recede to the Fed's 2% target only gradually."

More broadly, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "With the Federal Reserve, ECB and Bank of England all set to raise rates by 50bps, attention is now shifting to what comes next against a backdrop of slowing growth, and doubts about the sticky nature of inflation, as yields edged back higher after US PPI came in higher than expected for November."

In equity markets, InterContinental Hotels surged after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Peel Hunt.

Housebuilder Berkeley Group nudged higher after it backed its full-year profit outlook but posted a drop in first-half profits.

Investment manager Man Group rallied as it announced a share buyback programme of up to $125m.

Primark owner Associated British Foods edged lower as it maintained full-year guidance, saying it continued to expect further significant input cost inflation, but the volatility of input costs had diminished.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,476.63 0.06% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,916.00 0.49% techMARK (TASX) 4,397.68 0.19%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Smith (DS) (SMDS) 327.70p 4.70% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,986.00p 4.05% Prudential (PRU) 1,090.50p 3.02% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 94.05p 2.91% Halma (HLMA) 2,133.00p 2.70% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,062.00p 2.10% Whitbread (WTB) 2,637.00p 1.97% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,015.00p 1.82% Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,184.00p 1.82% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 263.70p 1.81%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Frasers Group (FRAS) 782.50p -3.93% Anglo American (AAL) 3,190.00p -3.32% GSK (GSK) 1,457.80p -1.74% Tesco (TSCO) 227.90p -1.30% Fresnillo (FRES) 874.00p -1.29% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,850.00p -1.21% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 132.94p -1.20% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 760.00p -1.17% Glencore (GLEN) 542.50p -1.11% Shell (SHEL) 2,286.00p -1.02%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 160.60p 9.90% Elementis (ELM) 116.50p 6.30% Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 86.50p 5.62% Man Group (EMG) 215.20p 5.34% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 519.00p 3.80% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,474.00p 3.73% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 777.00p 3.46% Computacenter (CCC) 1,974.00p 2.86% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 346.00p 2.67% Victrex plc (VCT) 1,626.00p 2.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Moonpig Group (MOON) 125.00p -4.29% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 157.90p -4.24% Abrdn (ABDN) 185.60p -3.04% Network International Holdings (NETW) 310.40p -3.00% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,481.00p -2.98% BBGI Global Infrastructure S.A. NPV (DI) (BBGI) 152.40p -2.68% National Express Group (NEX) 153.20p -2.54% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 166.30p -2.29% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 78.20p -2.25% HGCapital Trust (HGT) 349.00p -2.10%