London open: FTSE nudges up on positive US cues; Burberry surges

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Friday following a positive session on Wall Street, after US President Donald Trump said he would "rather not" impose tariffs on China. At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 8,576.35.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE is testing record highs once again this morning after Donald Trump's address to the World Economic Forum sent a pulse of optimism across global markets, with the S&P also reaching a new high-water mark of 6,118.71.

"The prospect of an olive branch in the form of a trade deal with China has had a calming effect. The US president's wish for lower interest rates also soothed some nerves, but that failed to stop 10-year yields in US Treasuries nudge up to 4.638%.

"This sets Trump on a potential collision course with central bankers. Yesterday's US jobs data came in a little cooler than expected, but that's unlikely to be enough evidence to sway monetary policy makers decisions any time soon. Markets are pricing in next to no chance of a rate cut at next week's Fed meeting."

On home shores, a survey released earlier showed a sharp fall in consumer confidence as the new year got under way.

The GfK consumer confidence index for January came in at -22, a five-point drop on December and three points lower than January 2023.

Within that, expectations for personal finances in the coming year dropped back into negative territory, losing three points to -2.

Respondents were similarly gloomy about prospects for the wider economy, with the sub-index sliding eight points to -34.

Spending was also shelved in favour of saving. The major purchase index lost four points to -20 while the savings index jumped nine to 30.

Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at NIQ GfK, said: "New Year is traditionally a time for change, but looking at these figures, consumers don't think things are changing for the better.

"These figures underline that consumers are losing confidence in the UK's economic prospects."

He added that the sharp increase in saving intentions was "unwelcome, because it's another sign that people see dark days ahead and are therefore thinking of putting money aside for safety".

In equity markets, miners were the top performers on the FTSE 100, with Antofagasta, Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all up.

Burberry surged as it said the rate of sales decline eased significantly in the luxury fashion brand's third quarter as recent actions to turn the business around started to bear fruit.

Retail revenues were down just 7% year-on-year in the three months to 28 December at £659m, following a 22% sales slump in the first half.

Burberry said it was "encouraged by the response from customers and partners over the festive period", which the company attributed to the 'Burberry Forward' brand reset initiated in November.

"In light of our Q3 performance, it is now more likely our second-half results will broadly offset the first-half adjusted operating loss, notwithstanding the uncertain macroeconomic environment," it said.

Elsewhere, Rolls-Royce was little changed after it was awarded a £9bn nuclear submarine contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,576.35 0.13% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,646.09 0.61% techMARK (TASX) 4,738.42 0.24%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,801.00p 4.10% WPP (WPP) 747.20p 2.81% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 83.64p 2.37% Glencore (GLEN) 382.35p 2.37% Prudential (PRU) 665.40p 2.06% Anglo American (AAL) 2,596.50p 1.90% Croda International (CRDA) 3,316.00p 1.84% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,037.00p 1.81% Fresnillo (FRES) 690.00p 1.69% Entain (ENT) 686.60p 1.48%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,067.00p -1.52% Barclays (BARC) 294.35p -1.44% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 426.50p -0.72% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 62.10p -0.70% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,977.00p -0.67% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 21,690.00p -0.64% Compass Group (CPG) 2,723.00p -0.62% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 824.30p -0.60% Tesco (TSCO) 364.40p -0.60% Shell (SHEL) 2,668.00p -0.56%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,218.50p 13.83% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 74.40p 4.49% Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 105.00p 3.35% Babcock International Group (BAB) 516.00p 2.99% SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 52.40p 2.75% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 441.80p 2.65% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 108.00p 2.27% Trainline (TRN) 369.20p 2.21% Vistry Group (VTY) 607.50p 2.19% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 543.00p 2.16%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hill and Smith (HILS) 1,908.00p -2.65% Senior (SNR) 160.00p -2.44% Harbour Energy (HBR) 269.00p -2.32% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 1,293.00p -1.90% Energean (ENOG) 1,001.00p -1.38% Investec (INVP) 535.00p -1.02% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,670.00p -0.95% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 4,600.00p -0.76% Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 70.00p -0.71% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 570.00p -0.70%