London open: FTSE edges lower amid 'wait and see' mood

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Tuesday following a downbeat close on Wall Street, as investors eyed a key US inflation reading due later in the week. At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,898.27.

Susannah Streeter head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The wait and see mood on the markets is continuing with recent exuberance fading, as investors look ahead to key consumer inflation data stateside, while they assess the implications of the latest 'chip wars' between the US and China.

"Shares in a number of semi-conductor specialist Advanced Micro Devices and Intel slipped after Beijing signalled that foreign company chips would be phased out of government computers and services and replaced with home produced versions. This latest chip skirmish isn't not going to stop the AI juggernaut in its tracks, but it highlights one of the risks ahead for demand in the world's second largest economy. It's likely two spheres of AI influence will eventually emerge, one initially much larger led by US tech giants but China will attempt to play catch up in the years to come and forge alliances and partnerships with its own technology."

On home shores, investors were mulling the latest data from Kantar, which showed that grocery price inflation fell to 4.5% in the year to mid-March - its lowest level since February 2022. However, 23% of British households still identify themselves as struggling financially.

The data showed that Ocado was the fastest growing retailer in Britain this month, while Morrisons has now been in consistent growth for over one year.

In equity markets, Auto Trader slumped as JPMorgan Cazenove put the shares on 'negative catalyst watch' ahead of full-year results.

Engineering group Smiths lost ground even as it reaffirmed annual guidance after a rise in half-year earnings and order growth.

Mobico - formerly National Express - was under the cosh again after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the shares to 'sector perform' from outperform'.

Dr Martens was hit by a downgrade to 'sell' at Goldman Sachs.

Softcat fell as the provider of IT infrastructure products and services reported a decline in full-year revenues.

On the upside, Ocado jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 as it said that in the first quarter of 2024, its Ocado Retail operation saw an 8.1% increase in total item volumes, leading to a 10.6% rise in revenue to £645.3m.

The company said the division - a joint venture with Marks and Spencer - saw its online market share climb to 13.5%, driven by a 6.4% rise in active customers, reaching 1.02 million.

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment rose as it said full-year losses widened to $1.2bn from $370m a year earlier due to one-off costs but revenue jumped nearly 25% amid significant growth in the US.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,898.27 -0.24% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,598.98 -0.07% techMARK (TASX) 4,505.48 0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 469.20p 3.67% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 17,625.00p 1.97% Kingfisher (KGF) 243.90p 1.79% Standard Chartered (STAN) 685.60p 1.51% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 257.00p 1.14% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 424.80p 0.88% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 163.40p 0.55% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,164.00p 0.48% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,892.00p 0.48% Haleon (HLN) 331.50p 0.41%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 724.20p -2.43% Anglo American (AAL) 1,902.20p -1.50% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,953.50p -1.19% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,185.50p -1.17% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 108.85p -1.14% Fresnillo (FRES) 447.00p -1.11% Croda International (CRDA) 4,886.00p -1.09% Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,636.00p -1.09% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,959.00p -0.96% Experian (EXPN) 3,471.00p -0.89%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 622.00p 2.22% Darktrace (DARK) 437.50p 1.98% NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 72.65p 1.61% Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 124.80p 1.30% Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) 72.40p 1.12% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,208.00p 1.00% IWG (IWG) 195.10p 0.93% Senior (SNR) 178.00p 0.91% VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 460.50p 0.88% Marshalls (MSLH) 277.20p 0.87%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mobico Group (MCG) 68.65p -3.17% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,418.00p -2.84% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 85.65p -2.67% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 257.60p -2.65% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 45.54p -2.27% Travis Perkins (TPK) 695.00p -1.92% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 117.30p -1.59% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 176.00p -1.51% Currys (CURY) 59.75p -1.24% Playtech (PTEC) 450.00p -1.23%