London midday: Stocks extend gains after UK GDP, ahead of US CPI

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains by midday on Thursday after data showed the UK economy bounced back in August, as investors eyed the latest US inflation reading. The FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 7,680.06.

Sentiment got a boost after a China's sovereign wealth fund Central Huijin Investment bought shares in some of the country's largest banks.

On home shores, data released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed the economy returned to growth in August.

GPD rose 0.2%, in line with consensus expectations, following a downwardly-revised 0.6% contraction in July. This was revised down from a 0.5% fall.

The services sector grew 0.4%, but the production and construction sectors shrank 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Relief that the UK economy has returned to growth combined with expectations that central banks will hold off from fresh rate hikes have put the FTSE 100 on the front foot in early trade. But with yet another recruiter, Hays, indicating increased caution among companies to hire, sentiment is likely to stay highly sensitive."

She pointed out that the UK only just "eked out" growth, however, "demonstrating how the burden of high borrowing costs and the wider cost-of-living crisis is still weighing hard on consumer and company sentiment".

"The picture being painted by this numbers is of an economy only just grinding forward, with the services sector accounting for any growth while production and construction activity has fallen sharply. We still haven't felt the full effect of previous rate hikes, and so the prospects of recession are still looming on the horizon with so little respite expected on sideswiped budgets. At the very most, it appears the UK is in a period of stagflation, with the economy stagnating while inflation stays elevated."

Investors were also mulling the latest UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which showed that house prices continued to fall in September as higher interest rates and mortgage costs weighed on demand.

House prices remained on a "downward trajectory" in September with a net balance of -69%, compared to -68% a month earlier.

The net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise minus those reporting fall.

Looking ahead to the rest of the day, the US consumer price index for September is due at 1330 BST.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Core CPI inflation is forecast to ease year-on-year from 4.3% to 4.1% and stay flat month-on-month at 0.3%. Any growth in the month-on-month figure would not go down well, particularly as the producer price inflation figures were hotter than expected yesterday. The market is hanging on the Fed's every word to see if it believes rate hikes are no longer necessary."

On the corporate front, and outside the FTSE 350, shares of Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group surged after it agreed to be bought by private equity firm Apollo in a £700m deal.

Pub group Mitchells & Butlers also rallied on the news.

On the downside, Taylor Wimpey, Kingfisher, WPP and Tesco all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Budget airline easyJet was in the red even as it hailed a record fourth-quarter profit amid strong demand, said it plans to resume dividend payments and announced a deal with Airbus to expand its fleet.

Mobico tumbled after the transport operator - formerly National Express - cut its full-year earnings outlook, and said it was looking to sell its North America school bus business and had decided to suspend its final dividend.

Cybersecurity firm Darktrace and Oxford Instruments were also down after updates.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,680.06 0.79% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,011.80 0.76% techMARK (TASX) 4,222.85 0.64%

FTSE 100 - Risers

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,854.00p 3.14% BP (BP.) 534.90p 2.81% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,616.00p 2.47% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,154.00p 1.96% AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,134.00p 1.74% United Utilities Group (UU.) 990.80p 1.70% Diageo (DGE) 3,148.50p 1.66% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,782.00p 1.61% Mondi (MNDI) 1,415.50p 1.54% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,070.00p 1.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 112.20p -3.90% Barclays (BARC) 152.94p -2.70% Kingfisher (KGF) 210.30p -0.99% WPP (WPP) 739.40p -0.94% Standard Chartered (STAN) 751.60p -0.87% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 655.40p -0.55% Tesco (TSCO) 279.70p -0.50% Beazley (BEZ) 535.50p -0.46% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 43.16p -0.27% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,750.50p -0.26%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 218.20p 6.03% Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,173.00p 3.71% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 85.35p 3.64% CAB Payments Holdings (CABP) 222.25p 3.61% Helios Towers (HTWS) 74.95p 3.52% Me Group International (MEGP) 154.00p 3.08% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 171.50p 3.00% Coats Group (COA) 72.20p 3.00% Pennon Group (PNN) 672.00p 2.99% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,250.00p 2.94%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mobico Group (MCG) 60.25p -29.12% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,894.00p -7.38% easyJet (EZJ) 415.20p -4.95% Darktrace (DARK) 383.50p -2.29% Breedon Group (BREE) 334.50p -1.18% Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 168.00p -1.18% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,180.00p -1.17% Drax Group (DRX) 422.00p -1.01% Persimmon (PSN) 1,051.50p -0.99% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 669.00p -0.92%