London open: Stocks gain as investors eye US inflation, central bank meetings

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday following losses at the end of last week, as investors braced for a week of key rate announcements and the latest US inflation reading. At 0820 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,595.63.

The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are all due to make rate announcements this week.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "To pause or not to pause - is the big question investors are mulling about the intentions of Fed policymakers ahead of the crunch meeting this week.

"The Federal Open Markets Committee will make their interest rate decision known on Wednesday. They've taken up arms against a rising sea of inflation by hiking rates at the fastest pace in 40 years, but with signs that the economy is shuffling off into a potential recession, the expectation is that they are likely to keep rates on hold.

"The latest inflation data out on Tuesday could sling another arrow of uncertainty into investors' minds if headline inflation doesn't head down quite as fast as expected, and core inflation, stripping out energy and food prices stays elevated.

"But with signs the mighty services industry is slowing, with the ISM Services PMI index showing growth tailing off, it has added to expectations that the Fed will take a pause this week and assess the economic currents. Any deviation from the forecast path is likely to cause a jolt of volatility on markets, after the risk-on appetite has grown markedly."

In equity markets, online supermarket Ocado surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'neutral' at BNP Paribas Exane.

Online electric retailer AO World rallied after Mike Ashley's Frasers Group took a 18.9% stake in the company. The owner of Sports Direct, House of Fraser and other retail clothing chains said it bought 109.4m shares at 68p each.

"The investment is the culmination of productive talks over the last two years about establishing a strategic partnership," AO World said in a statement.

Frasers shares also gained.

Elsewhere, Glencore was in focus after it made an offer to buy Teck Resources' steelmaking coal business as a standalone unit. The Swiss mining and trading giant said it had made the alternative proposal "as it is expected to allow for a value accretive demerger of the combined coal and carbon steel materials business".

"We also note continued strong support from shareholders for a transaction between Glencore and Teck," it added.

Miners fell in tandem with copper prices, with Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio all down.

Great Portland Estates was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' at Goldman Sachs, while Segro lost ground after a downgrade to 'neutral' by the same outfit.

Dr Martens was in the red after RBC Capital Markets slashed its price target on the shares to 150p from 180p.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,595.63 0.44% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,132.75 0.22% techMARK (TASX) 4,584.02 0.66%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 406.80p 5.23% Croda International (CRDA) 5,380.00p 2.01% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,334.00p 1.74% Frasers Group (FRAS) 695.00p 1.53% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 626.80p 1.46% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 540.60p 1.39% Beazley (BEZ) 586.00p 1.38% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,031.00p 1.36% Halma (HLMA) 2,443.00p 1.16% Experian (EXPN) 2,900.00p 1.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,429.50p -1.12% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,453.00p -0.99% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,077.00p -0.94% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,008.00p -0.79% Shell (SHEL) 2,277.50p -0.74% Vodafone Group (VOD) 74.38p -0.67% SEGRO (SGRO) 796.20p -0.55% St James's Place (STJ) 1,154.00p -0.52% BP (BP.) 467.00p -0.41% Entain (ENT) 1,291.50p -0.35%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Tullow Oil (TLW) 26.66p 3.65% Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,327.00p 3.35% Ibstock (IBST) 164.00p 2.56% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 234.40p 2.54% Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 261.00p 2.51% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 113.20p 2.44% Man Group (EMG) 233.80p 2.10% Helios Towers (HTWS) 88.75p 1.84% Bodycote (BOY) 629.00p 1.62% ASOS (ASC) 329.90p 1.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 228.00p -4.80% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 124.00p -2.75% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 472.20p -2.44% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 149.50p -2.42% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 220.20p -1.70% Babcock International Group (BAB) 312.00p -1.64% Discoverie Group (DSCV) 900.00p -1.32% Currys (CURY) 49.84p -1.31% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 95.30p -1.24% Volution Group (FAN) 420.00p -1.18%