London open: FTSE nudges lower; Next surges after update

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged lower in early trade on Thursday as investors mulled hawkish minutes from the US Federal Reserve, but retailers were on the rise after positive updates from the likes of Next and B&M European Value Retail. At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 7,575.47.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The minutes noted that the inflation data received for October and November showed welcome reductions in the monthly pace of price increases, but the committee stressed that it would take substantially more evidence of progress to be confident that inflation was on a sustained downward path."

Still to come on the macro front, investors will eye the S&P Global/CIPS December services PMI for the UK at 0930 GMT, while in the US, the ADP jobs report is at 1315 GMT and initial jobless claims are at 1330 GMT.

In equity markets, retailer Next surged after it lifted its full-year profit guidance as it reported better-than-expected sales over the Christmas period.

In the nine weeks to 30 December, full price sales rose 4.8% versus last year. This was £66m ahead of the company's previous guidance of a 2% decline for the period. Next said that both the retail and online segments had exceeded its expectations, with retail "particularly strong".

"We think that we underestimated the negative effect Covid was having on our retail sales last year," it said. "We may have also underestimated the effect improved stock levels would have on both businesses (stock levels were exceptionally low last year as a result of widespread supply chain disruption)."

The company upgraded its full-year pre-tax profit guidance by £20m to £860m, up 4.5% on the year.

Discount retailer B&M also rallied as it upgraded profit expectations and said it would pay a special dividend after a 12.3% rise in third quarter revenue.

The company, with operations in the UK and France, now expects annual adjusted core earnings to be in the range of £560m-580m, ahead of current analysts' consensus estimates of £557m.

Greggs was also in focus after the bakery chain - famous for its sausage rolls - backed its full-year expectations as it posted an 18.2% jump in fourth-quarter like-for-like sales.

Elsewhere, Prudential was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 after a downgrade to 'underperform' at Exane.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,575.47 -0.13% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,357.71 -0.17% techMARK (TASX) 4,461.29 -0.35%

FTSE 100 - Risers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 139.05p 2.81% Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,716.50p 2.63% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 454.00p 1.98% Tesco (TSCO) 239.00p 1.70% Fresnillo (FRES) 982.40p 1.55% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 238.90p 1.36% Ocado Group (OCDO) 716.20p 1.27% Frasers Group (FRAS) 744.50p 1.15% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 135.72p 0.88% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 547.70p 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Prudential (PRU) 1,201.00p -3.11% Pearson (PSON) 933.20p -2.22% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 271.10p -1.27% Halma (HLMA) 2,050.00p -1.25% Aviva (AV.) 451.90p -1.07% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 46.95p -1.04% Haleon (HLN) 319.40p -0.98% GSK (GSK) 1,434.00p -0.95% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 424.90p -0.93% Croda International (CRDA) 6,678.00p -0.89%

FTSE 250 - Risers

ASOS (ASC) 589.50p 3.42% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 135.45p 2.89% Petershill Partners (PHLL) 172.00p 2.75% Helios Towers (HTWS) 114.00p 2.52% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 540.00p 2.37% IWG (IWG) 177.00p 2.31% easyJet (EZJ) 362.80p 2.28% UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 63.00p 2.27% Bodycote (BOY) 611.00p 2.17% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,142.00p 2.06%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 2,100.00p -4.55% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 141.00p -3.95% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 75.30p -3.71% FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 734.00p -3.67% Molten Ventures (GROW) 386.80p -2.57% HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,370.00p -2.47% Vesuvius (VSVS) 412.00p -2.46% PureTech Health (PRTC) 263.00p -2.41% Shaftesbury (SHB) 364.20p -2.10% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 189.00p -2.07%