18th Dec 2024 09:09
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Wednesday morning, as investors prepare for the week's cluster of rate calls to kick off with the US Federal Reserve's decision this afternoon.
UK consumer price inflation and producer price inflation data came out before the London open.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the consumer prices index rose by 2.6% in the 12 months to November, picking up pace on-month from a 2.3% rise and in line with FXStreet-cited market consensus. The closely watched CPI services annual rate was unchanged at 5.0%, below the 5.1% market expectation.
Separate figures from the ONS showed producer input prices fell by 1.9% in the year to November, compared to a revised fall of 2.4% in the year to October. Producer output prices fell by 0.6% in the year to November, up from a revised fall of 0.9%.
"The good news: inflation wasn't quite as strong as some were expecting," said Deutsche Bank Research Economist Sanjay Raja. "The bad news: for one, today's inflation data was still a touch stronger than the [BoE]'s forecasts – this should continue to create some uneasiness with the recent swathe of data (particularly following yesterday's wage print). And two, the big drag on services CPI came from volatile items such as airfares (which fell 19% [on-month]) and hotels (-1% m-o-m)."
The Bank of England also has its rate call on Thursday, along with the Bank of Japan. The People's Bank of China follows on Friday.
On the UK, Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya said: "Across the Channel, the figures come in but they are not easy to interpret. Yesterday's jobs data looked strong with strong employment, low claims and nice earnings growth figures. And along with today's inflation print [it] dashed the likelihood of another rate cut this week from the Bank of England.
"But the private sector shed nearly 200,000 jobs this year...It's obviously not good news for the economy and demands some support from the BoE – a support that the BoE won't provide easily to balance out the government's spending plans unless the economy weakens due to tax hikes before it improves thanks to spending."
The FTSE 100 index opened up 19.32 points, 0.2%, at 8,214.52. The FTSE 250 was up 24.94 points, 0.1%, at 20,567.80, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.31 points at 721.73.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 824.53, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 18,059.24, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 16,049.20.
Kingfisher on the FTSE 100 gained 1.2%.
It announced the sale of its Brico Depot Romania business to Altex Romania for an enterprise value of EUR70 million, around GBP58 million.
National Grid was marginally lower after it published the RIIO-T3 business plan for its National Grid Electricity Transmission business, covering the period from April 2026 to March 2031.
It said the plan includes "an unprecedented level of investment" of up to GBP35 billion, of which over GBP11 billion will go towards maintaining and upgrading its existing networks, alongside construction works for the first three of its Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment projects.
IntegraFin lost 11% on the FTSE 250.
Its full-year revenue rose 7.1% to GBP144.9 million from GBP134.9 million, and pretax profit rose 10% to GBP68.9 million from GBP62.6 million. The total dividend for the year rose 2% to 10.4 pence from 10.2p, with IntegraFin declaring a second interim dividend of 7.2p.
However, it said that while headwinds from the past year "are showing signs of abating" some uncertainty remains, and that it expects FY25 admin costs to rise by 9%.
European Smaller Cos Trust was among the 250 winners, up 2.2%.
This was despite investor Saba Capital Management requisitioning general meetings for seven UK investment trusts, including European Smaller Cos.
Saba said it holds between 19% and 29% stakes in each trust, but that the firms' current boards have failed to hold managers accountable.
London Finance & Investment Group was up 15%.
It plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange early in the new year, and to return cash of about 70 pence per share to its shareholders.
Tullow Oil gained 3.3%.
The stock has lost 16% over the last five days, after Kosmos Energy confirmed it does not intend to make an offer for Tullow.
"Whilst we believe that there were benefits to a deal, including substantial cost synergies...it is now clear that discussions were highly preliminary and progress was contingent on GTA start-up, Tullow's tax arbitration and favourable deal terms (which had not been agreed)," Stifel analysts said.
Stifel maintained a 'sell' rating for Tullow and a 'buy' one for Kosmos, which rose 4.6%.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2690 early on Wednesday in London, lower compared to USD1.2707 at the equities close on Tuesday. The euro stood flat at USD1.0496, against USD1.0498. Against the yen, the dollar was trading flat at JPY153.56 compared to JPY153.57.
In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.
Japan's trade balance reached a reduced deficit of JPY117.6 billion, higher than expectations for a deficit of JPY688.9 billion, while exports beat expectations of a 2.8% increase by economists polled by Reuters to grow 3.8% on-year in November. But imports fell by 3.8%, below expectations of a 1% rise.
In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.
On the US, Ozkardeskaya said that "the retail sales, there, has again been higher than expected by analysts, again pointed at resilient consumer spending and again highlighted the needlessness of another rate cut from the Federal Reserve today. But the Fed will announce a 25bp cut no matter what.
"The more the Fed's rate cuts diverge from economic fundamentals, the stronger the hawkish expectations for the future become... But I would be surprised to see a meaningful reversal in the Fed’s rate cutting plans at today's announcement. In the worst-case scenario, Fed officials might signal one fewer rate cut on average for next year. I expect them to stick to the familiar 'inflation is moving toward target' rhetoric at this pre-Xmas meeting, paving the way for the Santa rally to unfold."
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD73.53 a barrel early in London on Wednesday from USD72.70 late Tuesday.
Gold was quoted higher at USD2,647.70 an ounce against USD2,637.16.
Still to come on Wednesday's economic calendar, as well as the US interest rate decision, there is eurozone consumer inflation and construction output data.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.