London open: Stocks nudge up ahead of BoE announcement

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged up in early trade on Thursday, with all eyes on the Bank of England policy announcement amid hopes of a summer rate cut. At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 8,358.68.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 hasn't been knocked off its course with positive winds still largely blowing around the index.

"Although there will be a certain amount of treading water ahead of the interest rate decision from the Bank of England, upbeat trade data from China is keeping optimism flowing. Exports grew by more than expected in April, increasing by 1.5% as customers in key markets around the world demonstrated more appetite for Chinese made goods. This has not only sparked fresh hopes of a steadier recovery for China's economy, but also may be seen as a measure of more confidence in other economies where interest rate cuts are eyed on the horizon.

"Although the Bank of England is set to keep rates on hold yet again later, hopes are high that a summer interest rate cut will be on the agenda. Even though the Bank is set to stay in a holding pattern for now, there will be huge interest in the voting split between policymakers and the accompanying quarterly monetary policy report. Expectations are centring around an interest rate cut in August but if more than one policymaker votes for a rate cut, it will spark greater hopes that a cut could come earlier in June. Likewise, if the Bank forecasts that inflation may be weaker in the months ahead than it flagged previously and gives a lacklustre forecast for economic growth, markets may price in more interest rate cuts this year, expecting a shift around the table at the next meeting. What will be key to watch is the Bank's expectations for the labour market, as the stubbornness of wage growth has been a worry for policymakers."

The BoE announcement is at midday.

In equity markets, IMI gained as the specialist engineering firm said trading remained in line with expectations as first-quarter revenue rose 4% year on year.

Weapons maker BAE Systems ticked higher as it held annual guidance and said global geopolitical tensions should boost orders as countries increased defence spending. The group still expects sales to rise 10% to 12% above 2023's £25bn and for underlying earnings before interest and tax to be 11% to 13% higher than the £2.7bn posted last year.

Harbour Energy and broadcaster ITV were also in the black after trading updates.

On the downside, telecoms group Airtel Africa slumped after saying it was hit hard by a drop in the Nigerian naira in the year to 31 March, with a $549m negative FX headwind pushing it into the red on a pre-tax basis. The company swung to a reported pre-tax loss of $89m, from a profit of $750m the year before, while reported revenues sank 5.3% to $4.98bn.

3i Group fell despite hailing "strong" full-year results supported by resilient growth in its portfolio companies.

Hipgnosis Song Fund lost ground as Concord said it would not increase its $1.25 per share offer for the company, clearing the path for Blackstone to take it over.

HSBC, Admiral, Petershill Partners, SThree and Ibstock all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,358.68 0.06% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,485.71 -0.03% techMARK (TASX) 4,710.14 -0.05%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Barclays (BARC) 214.40p 1.30% IMI (IMI) 1,867.00p 1.14% Centrica (CNA) 135.45p 1.04% Whitbread (WTB) 3,057.00p 0.99% Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 512.00p 0.69% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 319.10p 0.66% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 364.20p 0.61% BP (BP.) 503.20p 0.54% Beazley (BEZ) 665.50p 0.53% Prudential (PRU) 781.00p 0.51%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

3i Group (III) 2,875.00p -3.33% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 697.20p -3.27% Airtel Africa (AAF) 112.50p -2.93% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,728.00p -1.62% Entain (ENT) 772.80p -0.82% SSE (SSE) 1,776.00p -0.78% Schroders (SDR) 364.00p -0.55% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 889.00p -0.45% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,689.00p -0.44% Halma (HLMA) 2,318.00p -0.43%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Harbour Energy (HBR) 289.20p 3.43% ITV (ITV) 76.50p 2.89% PZ Cussons (PZC) 104.60p 2.35% Pagegroup (PAGE) 451.80p 2.22% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,905.00p 1.87% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 957.00p 1.81% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 198.70p 1.69% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 325.80p 1.69% Bankers Inv Trust (BNKR) 116.00p 1.58% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 252.00p 1.41%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 215.40p -4.69% Petershill Partners (PHLL) 201.50p -4.05% Renishaw (RSW) 3,870.00p -2.76% Dunelm Group (DNLM) 987.50p -2.71% SThree (STEM) 422.50p -2.65% Ibstock (IBST) 148.00p -2.37% LondonMetric Property (LMP) 199.20p -2.35% Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 102.40p -2.10% Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 435.00p -2.03% Victrex plc (VCT) 1,272.00p -2.00%