20th Mar 2025 09:01
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Thursday ahead of a Bank of England rate call at midday, as news of a cooling UK labour market does little to sway investor sentiment.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 27.88 points, 0.3%, at 8,734.54. The FTSE 250 was up 99.46 points, 0.5%, at 20,221.83, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.89 points, 0.3%, at 696.49.
"The FTSE 100 posted its best winning streak in 10 months yesterday, with its sixth session in a row of gains, and the good times are still coming with another positive open this morning. News that the labour market is cooling rather than collapsing seems to be enough to keep investors in the market," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman.
The UK jobless rate steadied at the beginning of 2025, while pay growth largely slowed, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday.
For the three months to January 31, the UK unemployment rate was 4.4%, in line with FX Street-cited consensus and where it stood in the three months to December.
Including bonuses, average yearly pay growth was 5.8%, shrinking from 6.1% in the three months to December and falling short of a 5.9% FX Street-cited consensus.
The Bank of England is due to announce its interest rate decision at 1200 GMT, following the US Fed announcement on Wednesday that left rates unchanged.
"UK labour market data won't do the Bank of England any favours, as sticky wage inflation looks like it's not going away anytime soon. Today's interest rate decision looks like a pretty easy one to predict; it's simply too early to take any action. Although employment growth is weak, with a small increase in jobs and a decline in job vacancies, wage growth remains high, particularly in the private sector. It’s a precarious position to be in, with policymakers fearful that a heavy hand could cause inflation to rear its ugly head," continued Britzman.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 874.24, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.5% higher at 17,642, and the Cboe Small Companies gained 0.3% to 15,651.22.
Prudential led the FTSE 100 risers on Thursday, opening up 2.2% following the release of its full-year results.
Late on Wednesday, the insurance firm & asset manager announced strong annual profit growth, boosted by higher insurance revenue with robust performance across key Asian markets, prompting an increased dividend.
Pretax profit increased 41% to USD2.95 billion in full-year 2024 from USD2.10 billion a year prior. Basic earnings per share after tax were 84.1 US cents, up 35% from 62.1c.
Prudential announced a second interim dividend of 16.29 cents per share, up 15% from 14.21c. This increases the total dividend for the year by 13% to 23.13c from 20.47c.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was 0.3% lower. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined 2.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 1.2%
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris sank 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up marginally.
Mast Energy Developments surged 52% higher on Thursday morning.
The developer and operator of small-scale, flexible-power generation plants on Thursday said it has signed a GBP5 million definitive investment deal with Powertree, formalising the long-term partnership between the two firms.
Under the agreement, Powertree will invest up to GBP5 million into Mast Energy's Hindlip project.
3i Group, on the other hand, faded 6.1% at Thursday's market open.
The private equity and venture capital firm said its largest investee, Action, had made a "good" start to 2025. In the first eleven weeks of the year, Action reported net sales 17% ahead on-year at EUR2.95 billion.
However, in a statement ahead of a capital markets seminar on Thursday, 3i said like-for-like sales growth in the first 11 weeks of 2025 at Action was 6.1%, with growth in transactions being 6.5%.
Broker Citi said this was "meaningfully below" its 9.0% estimate.
Year-to-date like-for-like sales at Action have been affected by temporary availability issues in certain stores and distribution centres as a result of the changeover of Action's enterprise resource planning system at the turn of the year, 3i said.
These issues have now been dealt with, it noted. 3i is due to publish its full-year results in May.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2973 early on Thursday in London, down slightly from USD1.2974 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.0867, down from USD1.0883. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY148.57 compared to JPY149.87.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.4% higher.
Brent oil was quoted at USD71.23 a barrel early in London on Thursday, up from USD70.72 late Wednesday.
Gold was quoted at USD3,041.20 an ounce, higher against USD3,036.51 on Wednesday.
Still to come on Thursday's economic calendar is eurozone construction output at 1000 GMT and US initial jobless claims at 1230 GMT.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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