London open: Stocks fall ahead of Spring Budget

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday as investors eyed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget. At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,617.80.

Hunt confirmed ahead of the Budget that energy bills support will be extended for a further three months, meaning the Energy Price Guarantee will not rise by £500 to £3,000 from April, as previously planned.

However, a separate voucher scheme - which gives £66 per month to every household - will still come to an end this month.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The Chancellor is focusing on how to prod the stalling economy into life, without making tax cut and spend promises which could set off a fresh debt furore. With a keen eye on trying to maintain financial stability particularly the close shave this week given SVB's collapse, he looks set to focus on highly targeted policies, rather than tax cuts to propel growth.

"He has more wiggle room as public sector borrowing, still high by historical standards is set to undershoot forecasts made by the Office of Budget Responsibility. Labour shortages mean high inflation is stubborn and he'll be trying to coax people back to work with a combination of sweets and a naughty step approach, with a widening of sanctions expected for those who don't look for work.

"Hunt is also expected to conjure up tax incentives for businesses who invest in Britain, to offset some of the effects of the corporation tax increase which is going up from 19% to 25%.

"The defence sector could also get a boost as the Treasury has been under pressure for months to increase military budgets. He's expected to announce an extra £5bn over two years and there will be a keen eye trained on the trajectory after that. The latest skirmishes in the skies between a US drone and a Russian aircraft has unsettled markets, and there is an expectation that NAO member countries will need to keep upping spending to deal with future threats."

The Spring Budget is due at 1230 GMT.

In equity markets, insurer Prudential slid even as it reported a better-than-expected rise in annual profit on the back of new insurance sales and said China's relaxation of Covid restrictions had also provided a boost.

The Asia-focused company saw adjusted operating profit rise 8% in 2022 to $3.38bn, beating a forecast of around $3.34bn from a company-compiled forecast.

Online trading platform IG Group was in the red as it said third-quarter trading revenue fell amid lower market volatility.

On the upside, 4imprint rallied as it reported a rise in full-year profit and revenue and proposed a special dividend.

Balfour Beatty gained as the construction company posted a jump in full-year profit, announced a £150m share buyback and hailed a "strong" operational and financial performance across the group.

Spirent Communications was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Berenberg, while Ibstock was lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Numis.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,617.80 -0.25% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,103.16 -0.14% techMARK (TASX) 4,568.63 0.46%

FTSE 100 - Risers

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,394.00p 1.20% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,123.50p 0.99% Vodafone Group (VOD) 96.99p 0.84% Standard Chartered (STAN) 702.40p 0.80% BT Group (BT.A) 144.70p 0.80% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 581.30p 0.75% Pearson (PSON) 848.40p 0.74% Persimmon (PSN) 1,238.50p 0.73% Haleon (HLN) 317.75p 0.71% Admiral Group (ADM) 1,933.50p 0.70%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Prudential (PRU) 1,135.00p -4.06% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 164.85p -2.28% BP (BP.) 521.10p -1.83% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 152.38p -1.82% Shell (SHEL) 2,428.00p -1.68% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,731.00p -1.48% Abrdn (ABDN) 213.20p -1.39% Ocado Group (OCDO) 435.40p -1.31% Entain (ENT) 1,249.50p -1.30% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,519.00p -1.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,775.00p 6.82% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 357.00p 4.82% Spirent Communications (SPT) 181.00p 4.26% Ibstock (IBST) 174.20p 3.26% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,580.00p 3.20% Trainline (TRN) 259.00p 2.90% Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,128.00p 2.73% Essentra (ESNT) 218.50p 2.58% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 168.80p 2.24% Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 572.00p 2.14%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 722.00p -6.48% Carnival (CCL) 675.60p -3.35% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 254.80p -2.86% Genuit Group (GEN) 255.00p -2.67% Hunting (HTG) 244.00p -2.40% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 128.50p -2.13% Man Group (EMG) 258.30p -2.05% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 625.00p -2.04% Moonpig Group (MOON) 124.20p -1.97% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 105.70p -1.81%