London open: Stocks flat after Thursday's selloff

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were flat in early trade on Friday following huge losses in the previous session. At 0855 BST, the FTSE 100 was steady at 7,047.16, having closed down 3.1% on Thursday amid a global selloff. Sentiment took a hit after the US Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by 75 basis points - its biggest hike since 1994 - and after the Swiss National Bank surprised markets by increasing rates for the first time in 15 years.

Also on Thursday, the Bank of England lifted rates by 25 basis points to a 13-year high of 1.25%, although this was less aggressive than the 50 bps many had started to price in in recent days.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "More central bank tightening and a re-evaluation of prospects for the US economy have put the skids under global markets, with the likelihood of recession apparently increasing.

"After a brief relief rally, US markets plunged once more as investors pondered the possibility of a policy mistake from the Federal Reserve. The tightening process may have come at a time when the economy was beginning to cool slightly, as opposed to a year ago when it would clearly have been able to withstand the hikes which are currently coming through.

"At the same time, the Bank of England also joined the throng of tightening banks with another hike, amid renewed forecasts of inflation rising as high as 11% later this year. There was also a surprise rise from the Swiss National Bank for the first time in 15 years.

"For the moment, the mood is clear. Investors globally are questioning whether any global growth is possible amid the current monetary shackles and are giving risk assets a wide berth at the slightest excuse. The impending quarterly reporting season will add further colour to trading conditions on the ground, and the company comments on the immediate outlook will have particular resonance."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were a drag, but Glencore bucked the trend following an upbeat trading update.

Supermarket chain Tesco fell after saying it was seeing early indications of changing customer behaviour as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and inflationary environment as it reported a fall in first quarter sales. The company said UK like-for-like sales for the three months to May 28 fell 1.5% to £9.8bn. On a group basis sales were up 2%, boosted by a strong performance at its Booker division, where revenue rose 19.4% to £2bn.

Future gained as the media company reiterated that it was on track to achieve full-year 2022 guidance.

Playtech was also in the black as the gambling software maker said the UK Takeover Panel had extended the deadline for Asia-based investment group TTB Partners to either make a firm intention to make an offer or walk away. Playtech said talks between the two were ongoing and progress was being made.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,047.16 0.03% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,830.74 0.55% techMARK (TASX) 4,175.31 0.39%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 475.20p 2.41% Entain (ENT) 1,322.00p 2.40% Next (NXT) 5,900.00p 2.36% Royal Mail (RMG) 275.70p 2.11% Halma (HLMA) 1,914.00p 2.00% Sage Group (SGE) 607.40p 1.98% RS Group (RS1) 833.50p 1.89% Diageo (DGE) 3,494.50p 1.88% Whitbread (WTB) 2,607.00p 1.80% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 104.65p 1.70%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BP (BP.) 394.10p -2.55% Fresnillo (FRES) 798.80p -2.28% Shell (SHEL) 2,102.00p -1.96% Harbour Energy (HBR) 357.80p -1.62% BAE Systems (BA.) 748.80p -1.16% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,387.00p -1.05% Tesco (TSCO) 247.10p -1.04% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 86.29p -0.92% Standard Chartered (STAN) 588.80p -0.74% SSE (SSE) 1,587.00p -0.66%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Future (FUTR) 1,642.00p 5.87% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 88.15p 5.57% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 488.40p 4.20% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 819.00p 3.67% Moonpig Group (MOON) 212.00p 3.41% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,735.00p 3.03% Currys (CURY) 71.95p 2.71% Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 430.50p 2.62% Greggs (GRG) 1,951.00p 2.58% Bellevue Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 135.80p 2.57%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Darktrace (DARK) 297.20p -6.48% Energean (ENOG) 1,241.00p -2.82% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,322.00p -2.65% VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 467.50p -2.40% Babcock International Group (BAB) 320.20p -2.38% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 244.70p -1.57% Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 105.00p -1.50% Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 661.00p -1.49% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 344.40p -1.32% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 989.00p -1.30%