London open: Stocks edge up as investors digest jobs data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged higher in early trade on Tuesday following a positive close on Wall Street, as the latest UK jobs data put pressure on the Bank of England to keep raising interest rates. At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,585.51.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate was a touch lower than expected in three months to April, while wage growth strengthened.

Regular pay excluding bonuses grew 7.2% in February to April, up from 6.8% in the previous three months and ahead of expectations for 6.9% growth. This marked the largest growth rate seen outside of the Covid pandemic.

Average total pay including bonuses grew 6.5% in the three months.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate came in at 3.8%, up from 3.7% in the previous quarter but down on the 3.9% reported a month earlier and below expectations of 4.0%.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Higher than expected wage growth will help households struggling with the cost-of-living crisis but the latest labour market trends risk adding fuel to inflationary fires and are set to make the Bank of England more determined to raise interest rates to put out the flames.

"The increases to minimum wage levels, up almost 10% partly account for the rise, and while hugely welcome for those on low incomes, it comes at a hugely tricky time when policymakers want to see spending power reduced, not bolstered, to help bring down the rate of price increases.

"The pound rose against the dollar on the news heading further towards the $1.26 mark, amid expectations that the Bank of England will keep pushing rates up, while in the United States, the Federal Reserve is poised to press pause tomorrow."

In equity markets, miners Antofagasta, Rio, Anglo American and Glencore all rose as copper prices advanced.

British Gas owner Centrica also gained after saying annual earnings were set to be at the top end of expectations, driven by "significantly higher" profits at its retail division as customers struggle with soaring energy prices.

Equipment rental firm Ashtead slumped despite hailing a record full-year performance amid "robust" end markets and a strong performance across all geographies.

CMC Markets was also in the red after full-year results, while Admiral was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' at Citi.

The bank said it had carried out a "deep dive" into industry loss ratio trends, which suggests that consensus estimates for Admiral are currently an outlier.

"We downgrade Admiral to sell and issue a negative catalyst watch as we expect an earnings expectation reset and material downside risk into 1H23E numbers," it said.

Housebuilder Bellway edged down after saying it expects lower output and average prices due to a weaker order book and an uncertain interest rate environment.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,585.51 0.20% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,231.25 0.21% techMARK (TASX) 4,578.06 0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 412.40p 2.95% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,485.00p 1.99% Centrica (CNA) 120.05p 1.82% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,160.00p 1.82% Croda International (CRDA) 5,520.00p 1.43% Anglo American (AAL) 2,450.00p 1.39% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 696.20p 1.34% Glencore (GLEN) 442.80p 1.34% Prudential (PRU) 1,128.00p 1.17% Sage Group (SGE) 876.80p 1.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,218.00p -4.73% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,306.00p -1.99% AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,738.00p -0.78% Schroders (SDR) 452.10p -0.64% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,565.50p -0.52% Unite Group (UTG) 906.00p -0.44% GSK (GSK) 1,368.80p -0.36% British Land Company (BLND) 342.90p -0.29% National Grid (NG.) 1,044.50p -0.29% SEGRO (SGRO) 777.40p -0.26%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Auction Technology Group (ATG) 784.00p 4.26% Ibstock (IBST) 160.10p 3.16% ASOS (ASC) 338.20p 2.70% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 3,045.00p 2.70% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 159.20p 2.31% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 289.80p 2.26% National Express Group (NEX) 118.90p 2.24% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 98.00p 1.71% Darktrace (DARK) 299.60p 1.66% Vanquis Banking Group 20 (VANQ) 214.50p 1.66%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 160.80p -5.19% Currys (CURY) 48.78p -2.44% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 148.90p -1.91% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 162.25p -1.79% Senior (SNR) 166.00p -1.43% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 132.50p -1.41% Scottish American Inv Company (SAIN) 523.00p -1.13% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 275.50p -1.08% Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 935.00p -1.06% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 564.50p -1.05%