London open: Stocks rise as investors eye Powell speech

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Friday as investors eyed a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole. At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,309.26.

Danske Bank said: "The annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium organized by the Kansas City Fed continues today and runs until Saturday. Today markets pay the closest attention to the Fed chair Powell's speech which is due at 16.00 CET.

"Markets pay close attention to Powell's assessment of the current state and monetary policy, and any kind of forward guidance, which will give a hint on how fast interest rates should decrease during the fall."

On home shores, a survey out earlier from GfK showed that consumer confidence remained stable in August, as improving sentiment towards personal finances was offset by the first fall in economic expectations in six months.

The GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer came in at -13, in line with the July reading and up from -25 in August of last year.

Three of the five sub-indices of the survey measuring people's personal finances improved in August while two measuring sentiment towards the economic environment worsened.

Notably, the sub-index measuring sentiment towards people's personal financial situation over the next 12 months jumped by three points to +6, which GfK client strategy director Joe Staton said could be due to the recent Bank of England interest-rate cut "and hopes of more to come".

Meanwhile, the major purchase index, which tracks the public's confidence in making major purchases such as furniture or electrical goods, improved to -13 from -16.

"The three-point jump in the major purchase index is great news for retailers with more shoppers agreeing that now is a good time to buy big-ticket items," Staton said.

However, two sub-indices measuring consumers' views on the economic situation both declined further into negative territory, with economic sentiment for the coming year falling four points to -15 - the first drop since February.

Nevertheless, Staton said that all the key numbers this month are "significantly more encouraging" than 12 and 24 months ago. "But as we move into autumn and winter, how much further will this slow improvement in the mood of the nation run?"

In equity markets, Direct Line fell after saying it had made a miscalculation in its 2023 Solvency II own funds. It said the solvency capital ratio at the end of 2023 was 188%, down from 197% but still above its risk appetite range of 140% to 180%.

Melrose Industries slumped after a downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' by UBS.

Elsewhere, Evoke - formerly 888 - was up as it announced the acquisition of New Gambling Solutions (NGS), the operator of Winner.ro, which is an online betting and gaming operator in Romania.

Hiscox was in focus as it announced the appointment of senior independent director Colin Keogh as interim chair following the death of Jonathan Bloomer earlier in the week in the sinking of the Bayesian.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,309.26 0.26% FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,108.13 0.02% techMARK (TASX) 4,867.41 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,690.00p 2.16% Glencore (GLEN) 410.65p 1.32% Diageo (DGE) 2,535.00p 1.32% Barclays (BARC) 228.00p 1.15% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 58.90p 1.03% Prudential (PRU) 671.40p 0.99% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 178.00p 0.94% Fresnillo (FRES) 549.00p 0.92% easyJet (EZJ) 450.50p 0.90% Standard Chartered (STAN) 762.60p 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 489.10p -4.29% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,924.00p -0.91% Sage Group (SGE) 1,007.50p -0.89% Beazley (BEZ) 755.50p -0.53% Diploma (DPLM) 4,346.00p -0.50% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 495.30p -0.46% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 857.20p -0.44% F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 1,034.00p -0.39% BT Group (BT.A) 134.70p -0.37% Rightmove (RMV) 552.80p -0.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers

XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 320.00p 4.92% NCC Group (NCC) 161.00p 4.27% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 86.20p 2.38% Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,250.00p 2.21% OSB Group (OSB) 392.60p 2.03% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 126.10p 1.86% Investec (INVP) 563.00p 1.53% North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 4,260.00p 1.43% Witan Inv Trust (WTAN) 272.50p 1.30% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 151.40p 1.20%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petershill Partners (PHLL) 215.00p -4.44% CMC Markets (CMCX) 316.50p -2.47% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 184.50p -2.38% Hays (HAS) 95.30p -2.16% JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 542.00p -1.63% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 66.20p -1.49% Renishaw (RSW) 3,595.00p -0.96% Softcat (SCT) 1,567.00p -0.95% IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 374.50p -0.93% Pagegroup (PAGE) 398.20p -0.90%