London open: FTSE nudges up ahead of services data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged up in early trade on Thursday following a mostly firmer US session, as investors eyed the latest reading on the UK services sector.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,941.93.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 has squeezed out some gains following a mixed trading day yesterday. There's limited corporate news to move the dial, with Federal Reserve comments from yesterday a main driver of sentiment today.

"Jerome Powell once again said that there was no rush to cut interest rates, although he did signal a cut would be coming this year, but that this is wholly dependent on economic progress."

On the macro front, the S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI for March is due at 0930 BST. Investors will also be eyeing the latest US initial jobless claims at 1330 BST, ahead of Friday's all-important non-farm payrolls release.

In equity markets, Future surged as it reported a return to organic revenue growth in the second quarter, largely attributed to robust performances in Go.Compare, B2B sectors, and resilient magazine sales.

Vodafone was in focus after the Competition and Markets Authority said it was launching an in-depth investigation into its planned £15bn merger with CK Hutchison's Three after they failed to provide solutions to address competition concerns.

InterContinental Hotels Group, Mondi, Rentokil Initial, IMI, Direct Line, Domino's Pizza, Games Workshop, Hammerson and OSB Group were all in the red as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,941.93 0.06% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,772.31 0.09% techMARK (TASX) 4,469.63 0.18%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Barclays (BARC) 192.06p 1.74% Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,136.00p 1.57% BT Group (BT.A) 106.70p 1.38% Entain (ENT) 766.80p 1.32% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,720.00p 1.31% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 253.60p 1.16% Fresnillo (FRES) 533.50p 1.15% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 275.30p 0.95% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.94p 0.92% Unite Group (UTG) 940.00p 0.80%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Mondi (MNDI) 1,336.50p -2.77% Ocado Group (OCDO) 429.30p -2.00% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 461.70p -1.60% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 7,980.00p -1.48% Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,611.00p -1.17% Whitbread (WTB) 3,241.00p -1.16% Diageo (DGE) 2,907.50p -0.91% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 866.20p -0.89% Croda International (CRDA) 4,698.00p -0.80% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 9,765.00p -0.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Future (FUTR) 680.50p 12.18% Pagegroup (PAGE) 472.60p 4.88% Trainline (TRN) 368.20p 4.22% Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 83.50p 3.86% Ascential (ASCL) 320.00p 3.21% AJ Bell (AJB) 303.50p 2.36% Mitie Group (MTO) 108.20p 2.27% Derwent London (DLN) 2,142.00p 2.19% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 89.50p 1.94% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 683.50p 1.70%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

OSB Group (OSB) 363.40p -4.54% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 109.00p -3.96% Helios Towers (HTWS) 89.00p -3.16% Genus (GNS) 1,710.00p -2.40% PureTech Health (PRTC) 215.00p -2.27% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 190.60p -1.97% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 340.00p -1.67% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 9,765.00p -1.66% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 484.60p -1.54% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 874.00p -1.50%