London midday: Stocks little changed ahead of US inflation

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were little changed by midday on Thursday as investors eyed a key US inflation reading and mulled the latest data for the eurozone. The FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% at 7,477.46.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The FTSE 100 was holding on by its fingertips to its latest move higher as investors awaited the latest reading of core inflation from the US.

"The markets are so data driven right now, aping the stance adopted by central bankers, and it feels like a worse than expected reading could extinguish the recently improved sentiment.

"If what has been an up and down - or, more accurately, down and up August for the markets - is to have a positive conclusion then the core PCE index, often seen as the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, needs to come in at, or below, expectations.

"If it comes in higher than anticipated then we could see renewed nervousness ahead of the Fed's meeting next month."

The PCE indicator for July is due at 1330 BST.

Closer to home, figures released by Eurostat showed that consumer prices in the eurozone increased more than expected in August, raising concerns that the European Central Bank may act once again to bring down stubbornly high inflation with another interest rate rise.

Just two weeks ahead of the ECB's next policy meeting on 14 September, Eurostat announced that the consumer price index increased 5.3% on last August, in line with July's reading but ahead of the 5.1% level expected by economists.

Core inflation, which doesn't include more volatile items like energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 5.3% as expected, from 5.5% in July.

Investors were also mulling the latest data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, which showed that factory activity contracted in August for the fifth month in a row.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 49.7 from 49.3 in July, remaining below the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion. Economists were expecting a reading of 49.2.

Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI declined to 51.0 in August from 51.5 in July, versus consensus expectations of 51.2.

In equity markets, Glencore, Croda, Endeavour Mining, Genuit and Redde Northgate all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Building materials supplier Grafton reversed earlier losses to trade up even as it reported a 29% fall in half-year profits amid a challenging market, but still lifted its dividend and announced a new £50m share buyback.

Pre-tax profits came in at £93.6m for the six months to June 30, compared with £132m a year earlier. The dividend was lifted 8.1% to 10p a share.

Grafton said it expected full year adjusted operating profit of around £202.6m and a range of £194.6m - £209.4m, in line with its own compiled forecasts of analysts.

Belfast-based IT services group Kainos nudged higher as it announced that full-year results are still expected to meet consensus forecasts despite an "uncertain" trading environment.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,477.46 0.05% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,631.18 0.36% techMARK (TASX) 4,311.89 0.43%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 814.40p 2.65% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 222.10p 2.44% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 272.70p 1.87% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 163.65p 1.52% Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 14,405.00p 1.37% Abrdn (ABDN) 165.90p 1.28% Anglo American (AAL) 2,112.00p 1.22% Kingfisher (KGF) 233.80p 1.21% Tesco (TSCO) 267.30p 1.17% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,845.50p 1.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Glencore (GLEN) 418.95p -4.49% Prudential (PRU) 975.20p -2.46% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,624.00p -1.81% Diageo (DGE) 3,265.00p -1.67% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 763.20p -0.91% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 233.20p -0.85% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,722.00p -0.83% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 586.70p -0.68% Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,208.00p -0.67% Croda International (CRDA) 5,536.00p -0.65%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 363.50p 3.65% Digital 9 Infrastructure NPV (DGI9) 59.00p 3.51% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 78.80p 2.27% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,291.00p 2.23% Just Group (JUST) 74.50p 2.19% Mobico Group (MCG) 85.20p 2.10% Softcat (SCT) 1,510.00p 1.89% Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) 88.70p 1.84% British Land Company (BLND) 327.80p 1.80% Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 142.30p 1.79%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 136.90p -6.62% CMC Markets (CMCX) 109.20p -4.88% Redde Northgate (REDD) 323.50p -4.29% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 92.00p -4.17% Pagegroup (PAGE) 418.20p -3.95% Quilter (QLT) 85.05p -3.79% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 123.40p -2.53% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 678.00p -2.02% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 88.50p -1.99% FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 570.00p -1.38%