London open: FTSE rises ahead of BoE, ECB rate decisions

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday as investors mulled the latest policy announcement from the Federal Reserve and looked ahead to rate decisions from the Bank of England and European Central Bank. At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,800.28.

The Fed lifted interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, as expected, but markets rallied after Chair Jerome Powell warned that more interest rate hikes were coming and said it would be "very premature to declare victory" on inflation but acknowledged that "the disinflationary process has started".

Rate decisions are due from the Bank of England and ECB at midday and 1315 GMT, respectively.

The BoE is expected to lift rates for the tenth month in a row to 4% - the highest level since autumn 2008 - as it looks to tackle inflation. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "The MPC is on the horns of a dilemma as the UK economy continues to struggle with double digit inflation, although the economy may well not be as bad as perhaps was thought at the end of last year, which could prompt a modest tweak to some of its economic forecasts."

The ECB is also expected to raise rate by 50 basis points, even after data showed this week that consumer price inflation in the eurozone fell in January to 8.5% from 9.2% in December. This was ahead of expectations of 9% and the lowest level since last May.

In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100, while advertising giant WPP rallied as French peer Publicis surged on the back of its full-year results.

Oil and gas giant Shell gained after it posted a record fourth-quarter profit of $9.8bn, driven by higher trading from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations.

Annual earnings doubled to $39.87bn, also a record, as the company cashed in on soaring energy prices inflamed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago. The full-year dividend was lifted 16% to $1.03 a share.

Shell also announced a new share buyback programme of $4bn, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter 2023 results announcement.

Food producer Cranswick rallied as it said trading was in line with expectations, with a "particularly robust" performance in December.

BT Group was in the red as the telecoms company reiterated its full-year outlook despite seeing third-quarter revenues slip.

Adjusted revenues in the three months to 31 December fell 3% to £5.2bn, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 2% to £2.01bn. In the nine months to 31 December, revenues fell 1% to £15.6bn, as price increases and improved trading in Openreach and its consumer division were offset by lower sales in the Global unit and the disposal of BT Sport.

Standard Chartered was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs.

Cyber security firm NCC tumbled after it said that market headwinds were impacting current trading and that it expects to cut jobs.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,800.28 0.50% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,093.10 0.98% techMARK (TASX) 4,442.45 0.36%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 694.40p 5.18% WPP (WPP) 997.60p 4.07% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 776.40p 3.91% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 167.75p 2.73% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 906.20p 2.70% SEGRO (SGRO) 872.20p 2.61% Bunzl (BNZL) 3,057.00p 2.58% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,845.00p 2.42% Whitbread (WTB) 3,088.00p 2.32% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 462.90p 2.30%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 110.80p -4.73% Centrica (CNA) 99.52p -1.81% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 591.60p -1.61% Standard Chartered (STAN) 676.80p -1.54% BAE Systems (BA.) 843.20p -1.26% BT Group (BT.A) 122.65p -1.01% Compass Group (CPG) 1,881.00p -0.71% BP (BP.) 489.25p -0.65% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,040.00p -0.49% Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,173.00p -0.47%

FTSE 250 - Risers

ASOS (ASC) 947.50p 6.28% Carnival (CCL) 819.80p 6.05% Molten Ventures (GROW) 373.00p 6.03% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,801.00p 5.62% Essentra (ESNT) 231.00p 5.48% Hammerson (HMSO) 27.66p 3.87% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,016.00p 3.86% IWG (IWG) 191.95p 3.73% Warehouse Reit (WHR) 106.80p 3.69% Darktrace (DARK) 227.50p 3.64%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

NCC Group (NCC) 158.60p -13.99% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 582.50p -4.19% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 184.65p -3.05% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 359.40p -2.44% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 2,620.00p -2.06% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 353.00p -1.78% Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF) 138.50p -1.77% Hunting (HTG) 347.00p -1.28% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 156.60p -1.20% IG Group Holdings (IGG) 791.00p -0.88%