London open: Stocks start week on a mixed note

(Sharecast News) - London stocks began the week on a mixed note, after a lacklustre session on Wall Street to close out last week. The FTSE 100 was trading 16 points lower at 7,648.07, although the second-tier index was edging up by 0.01% to 19,217.76.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said last week ended on a cautious note after the first earnings from Big Tech companies were "not bad, but not good enough" to further boost an already-impressive rally so far this year.

"This week, the earnings season continues in full swing - 150 S&P 500 companies are due to announce their second quarter earnings throughout this week," she explained.

On the economic side of things, purchasing managers' surveys showed that factory and services sector activity in Germany and France both softened in July.

At 0930 S&P Global would release its Purchasing Managers' Indices for UK manufacturing and services covering the same month.

US PMIs would follow at 1445 BST.

On the central bank front, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are all set to meet this week, with the first two widely expected to announce 25-basis point hikes each.

In equities, telecoms giant Vodafone was in focus as it said first-quarter group service revenue rose 3.7%, helped by its UK operations.

The company reported that revenue for the period came in at €10.7bn, up from €9.5bn a year earlier.

The company added that it had appointed former SAP chief financial officer Luka Mucic to the same role at Vodafone, starting on 1 September.

S4 Capital cut its targets for full-year revenues and profits due to the challenging macroeconomic conditions, specifically citing caution on the part of technology sector clients.

Like-for-like growth in net revenues was now seen at 2-4%, down from 6-10% before.

Elsewhere, GSK's majority-owned subsidiary ViiV Healthcare announced that cabotegravir, a long-acting injectable for HIV prevention, had received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency.

Liontrust Asset Management extended its offer period to acquire GAM Holding AG for three days, until 28 July, as it tries to win over some reticent shareholders.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,646.11 -0.23% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,200.01 0.00% techMARK (TASX) 4,473.09 0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 760.80p 10.74% Vodafone Group (VOD) 76.11p 3.54% BT Group (BT.A) 125.35p 1.79% Persimmon (PSN) 1,184.00p 1.28% SEGRO (SGRO) 795.00p 1.22% Unite Group (UTG) 964.00p 0.89% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,380.00p 0.82% RS Group (RS1) 770.60p 0.81% St James's Place (STJ) 1,168.50p 0.56% Frasers Group (FRAS) 765.50p 0.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 151.30p -2.86% WPP (WPP) 806.80p -2.56% Prudential (PRU) 1,020.00p -2.25% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 153.05p -1.77% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 912.00p -1.62% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 114.95p -1.42% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 633.60p -1.31% Standard Chartered (STAN) 711.20p -1.08% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,097.00p -0.84% Barclays (BARC) 161.90p -0.83%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 82.50p 4.70% Darktrace (DARK) 394.20p 2.92% Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 925.00p 2.32% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 137.60p 2.08% Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 125.00p 1.96% 3i Infrastructure (3IN) 318.00p 1.92% Warehouse Reit (WHR) 91.10p 1.90% Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 148.10p 1.86% Cranswick (CWK) 3,404.00p 1.79% HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,285.00p 1.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

easyJet (EZJ) 455.00p -4.51% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 587.00p -3.61% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,572.00p -3.56% Capita (CPI) 27.40p -2.42% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 205.00p -2.38% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 2,455.00p -2.19% Ascential (ASCL) 208.20p -2.07% FirstGroup (FGP) 146.70p -2.07% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 171.85p -1.74% Supermarket Income Reit (SUPR) 77.60p -1.40%