London open: Stocks rise as investors eye inflation readings

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday following heavy losses at the end of last week, as investors looked ahead to inflation readings this week in the UK and US. At 0820 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,387.78.

Danske Bank said: "The most important release this week will likely be US CPI for October on Tuesday, which is extra uncertain this month due to possible effects from the auto workers' strike as well as technical factors relating to health insurance premiums.

"Also worth watching is US retail sales on Thursday after the very strong September-print. The week also features a long-expected Xi-Biden meeting on Wednesday along with a string of Chinese data and a possible Chinese rate cut, and UK job and inflation reports."

Data released earlier by Rightmove showed that house prices fell sharply in November as sellers trimmed expectations to secure sales.

According to the latest house price index, the average new selling asking price dropped 1.7% in November to £362,143. It was the steepest November drop since 2018. Annually, prices fell 1.3%.

That compares to a 0.5% monthly uptick in October, and 0.8% fall year-on-year.

Rightmove said that with Christmas now approaching, sellers were cutting prices as they look to attracted cash-strapped buyers.

Agreed sales were 10% below 2019's pre-pandemic market, although that is an improvement on October, when agreed sales were 15% below 2019.

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: "We'd expect to see a drop in new seller asking prices in the last couple of the months of the year, as serious sellers start to cut through the Christmas noise with an attractive price to secure a buyer.

"However, the larger-than-usual drop this month signals that among the usual pricing seasonality, we are starting to see more new sellers come to market with more enticing prices.

"Buyers are still out there, but for many their affordability is much reduced due to higher mortgage rates."

In equity markets, insurer Phoenix Group jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 as it lifted its full-year cash generation targets after completing the funds merger of its Standard Life and Phoenix Life businesses into a single entity.

British Land rallied as it reported a decline in half-year net asset value but said rental value growth was set to be at the top end of its previously guided ranges for FY24.

M&G was boosted by an upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underweight' at JPMorgan.

Aerospace giant BAE Systems was little changed as it said it was trading in line with expectations after a strong third quarter, with £10bn in orders booked since the half-year stage.

Elsewhere, Kainos tanked even as it posted a rise in first-half profit and revenue and hailed continued strong growth across its key business areas.

FMD Group tumbled as it warned that its 2024 performance will be impacted by a lower -than-expected number of consultants assigned to clients at the beginning of the year.

International Distribution Services was in the red after Ofcom fined Royal Mail £5.6m for missing postal delivery targets in the last financial year "by a significant and unexplained margin".

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,387.78 0.37% FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,836.94 -0.09% techMARK (TASX) 4,057.60 0.32%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 491.90p 5.97% M&G (MNG) 206.90p 1.62% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,003.50p 1.47% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,224.00p 1.33% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,922.00p 1.09% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,316.00p 1.08% Convatec Group (CTEC) 210.40p 1.06% Melrose Industries (MRO) 520.40p 1.05% Anglo American (AAL) 2,039.00p 1.02% Glencore (GLEN) 431.30p 0.98%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Diageo (DGE) 2,818.50p -1.11% Kingfisher (KGF) 224.10p -0.84% SSE (SSE) 1,668.00p -0.71% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,622.00p -0.49% National Grid (NG.) 980.20p -0.43% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,322.00p -0.34% Entain (ENT) 922.80p -0.30% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 116.80p -0.26% Haleon (HLN) 324.20p -0.23% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,545.00p -0.20%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hilton Food Group (HFG) 700.00p 3.70% British Land Company (BLND) 321.70p 2.55% Savills (SVS) 847.50p 2.54% LondonMetric Property (LMP) 179.60p 2.22% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 209.80p 2.14% Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 227.50p 2.02% Pagegroup (PAGE) 425.00p 2.02% Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 795.50p 1.99% Coats Group (COA) 72.00p 1.98% Breedon Group (BREE) 329.50p 1.70%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 190.40p -3.89% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,493.50p -3.02% Energean (ENOG) 824.00p -2.83% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 166.50p -2.80% Drax Group (DRX) 411.50p -2.60% RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,614.00p -2.46% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 116.10p -2.27% Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 646.00p -2.20% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 403.60p -2.09% Grainger (GRI) 244.40p -2.08%