London open: Stocks gain ahead of US CPI; Tesco in the black

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday as investors eyed the latest US inflation reading, with Tesco in the black after well-received results. At 0820 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,981.42.

There are no major UK macro points due, but the US consumer price index for March is scheduled for release at 1330 BST, while the latest FOMC minutes are at 1900 BST.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said there will be growing hope that US consumer prices are heading south, "to help guide the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this summer".

"More broadly, earning season starts this week, and investors will be looking to economic barometers in the form of major US banks to gauge the health of important economies," she said.

In equity markets, Tesco gained as it struck a confident tone for the current financial year after reporting a jump in both annual profits and volumes.

On a statutory basis, pre-tax profits surged 159.5% to £2.76bn, with group sales excluding VAT and fuel up 7.2% in the 52 weeks to 24 February to £61.48bn.

Looking ahead, the grocer said it expected retail adjusted operating profit of "at least" £2.8bn for the 2024/25 year. It also forecast retail free cash flow of between £1.4bn and £1.8bn.

Affordable homes developer Vistry rose after saying it had signed two new deals with Homes England to deliver 1,000 mixed-tenure homes in the Midlands.

Capita rallied as the outsourcer extended its customer experience contract with a "leading" European integrated telecoms company for two years from January 2024, with an option to extend for a further two years. The contract is worth more than £95m over the four years.

Elsewhere, Direct Line ticked up after saying it had poached the head of finance from Aviva's general insurance unit to be its new chief financial officer, replacing its CFO of three years just weeks after a failed takeover offer from Ageas.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,981.42 0.59% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,833.37 0.35% techMARK (TASX) 4,432.93 0.02%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 396.10p 4.07% Croda International (CRDA) 4,840.00p 2.98% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 256.20p 1.67% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,670.00p 1.61% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,205.00p 1.39% Fresnillo (FRES) 586.00p 1.38% Airtel Africa (AAF) 106.50p 1.33% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 471.60p 1.29% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 268.20p 1.28% 3i Group (III) 2,812.00p 1.26%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Haleon (HLN) 321.50p -0.25% Unilever (ULVR) 3,813.00p -0.21% Experian (EXPN) 3,366.00p -0.12% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,815.00p -0.11% Relx plc (REL) 3,318.00p -0.06% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,702.00p -0.06% RELX FINANCE BV 3.375% GTD NTS 20/03/33 (BW73) 99.72p 0.00% Weir Group (WEIR) 2,054.00p 0.00% Unite Group (UTG) 937.00p 0.00% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,278.00p 0.08%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ninety One (N91) 177.70p 3.37% NCC Group (NCC) 125.60p 2.78% Bellway (BWY) 2,628.00p 2.50% GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 72.10p 2.27% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 197.10p 2.12% Indivior (INDV) 1,657.00p 1.97% Cranswick (CWK) 4,180.00p 1.95% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 150.00p 1.90% JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) 561.00p 1.81% Redrow (RDW) 663.00p 1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Helios Towers (HTWS) 93.00p -2.11% Genuit Group (GEN) 426.00p -2.07% Tyman (TYMN) 298.00p -1.97% Quilter (QLT) 99.85p -1.82% Chemring Group (CHG) 337.00p -1.61% IWG (IWG) 185.00p -1.07% Hill and Smith (HILS) 1,924.00p -1.03% Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 591.00p -1.01% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 346.80p -0.63% Genus (GNS) 1,730.00p -0.57%