London midday: Stocks flat as investors pause after record highs; Experian tumbles

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still flat by midday on Thursday as investors paused for breath after recent record highs. The FTSE 100 was steady at 9,452.39, having hit another fresh record high on Wednesday after a weaker-than-expected US ADP report cemented rate cut expectations.

David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said: "The US government shutdown continues for a second day but has yet to impact financial markets. This is even though government economic data, including today's weekly unemployment claims and tomorrow's non-farm payroll report won't be published.

"Yesterday, the monthly ADP private payroll update came in well below expectations, confirming weakness across the labour market that had already been picked up by the last two Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Non-Farm Payroll releases. Investors saw this as increasing the likelihood that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next two meetings ahead of year-end. This supported the ongoing rally and took the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh record closes."

In equity markets, 3i Group was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 following a Bloomberg report that the private equity firm is considering exit options, including a possible sale of French IT maintenance provider Evernex. According to Bloomberg, the sale of Evernex could be valued at €1.2bn to €1.5bn.

The shares were also boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' at UBS.

Tesco rallied as it lifted its full-year guidance after a strong first half fuelled by the warm summer weather.

The supermarket giant said it now expect full-year group adjusted operating profit of between £2.9bn and £3.1bn, up from a previous range of between £2.7bn and £3.0bn.

Morgan Sindall surged as it said 2025 results will be "significantly" ahead of its previous expectations, following a continuation of the strengthening performance from the Fit Out division.

On the downside, Experian tumbled after US analytics software firm Fair Isaac announced the launch of a new program that could make US lenders less reliant on credit agencies.

Fair Isaac said on Wednesday that the 'FICO® Mortgage Direct License Program' will eliminate reliance on the three nationwide credit bureaus, giving tri-merge resellers the option to calculate and distribute FICO scores directly to their customers.

The news hit shares of Equifax and TransUnion, which closed down 11.1% and 7.1% respectively on Wednesday.

The FICO score is used by lenders to help make credit risk decisions across the customer lifecycle.

SSE fell after saying it expects first-half profits to fall by up to a third, but guided to growth over the full year with the majority of annual earnings being delivered in the second half.

BT lost ground after a downgrade to 'underperform' at BNPP Exane.

National Grid ticked lower despite saying it expects half-year results for the six months to 30 September to be in line with expectations.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,452.39 0.06% FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,072.00 0.10% techMARK (TASX) 5,559.21 0.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

3i Group (III) 4,305.00p 3.94% Tesco (TSCO) 445.60p 3.70% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,682.00p 2.18% Croda International (CRDA) 2,819.00p 1.81% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 372.80p 1.80% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 535.40p 1.63% ICG (ICG) 2,250.00p 1.63% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 84.68p 1.51% Weir Group (WEIR) 2,812.00p 1.44% Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,298.00p 1.41%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Experian (EXPN) 3,422.00p -6.88% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,785.00p -2.42% BT Group (BT.A) 186.90p -2.40% SSE (SSE) 1,731.00p -2.01% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,839.00p -1.72% Centrica (CNA) 168.20p -1.52% Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,972.00p -1.35% Entain (ENT) 861.60p -1.24% Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,053.00p -1.23% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,172.00p -1.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 4,820.00p 10.17% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 85.35p 4.72% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,200.00p 4.35% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 386.00p 3.76% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,948.00p 2.85% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 425.30p 2.24% XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 345.50p 2.22% Man Group (EMG) 185.30p 1.93% Genus (GNS) 2,525.00p 1.81% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 180.90p 1.80%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Tate & Lyle (TATE) 375.60p -3.94% Greggs (GRG) 1,659.00p -2.75% Victrex plc (VCT) 694.00p -2.66% CMC Markets (CMCX) 230.50p -2.54% Johnson Service Group (JSG) 146.00p -2.54% AJ Bell (AJB) 508.50p -2.21% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 269.50p -2.00% Kainos Group (KNOS) 925.50p -1.70% Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,136.00p -1.69% Marshalls (MSLH) 176.00p -1.57%