Stock prices in London opened mix on Thursday, ahead of a UK construction reading that is expected to show a decelerated fall in activity for February, while investors await US trade data.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 19.42 points, 0.2%, at 8,736.42. The FTSE 250 was up 65.74 points, 0.3%, at 20,193.47, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.26 points, 0.5%, at 693.74.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 875.89, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 17,572.89, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.4% at 15,526.79.
Admiral led the FTSE 100, up 6.7%.
The insurer for 2024 said pretax profit surged 90% to £839.2 million from £442.8 million the year before, and hiked its final dividend to 121.0 pence from 52.0p. Turnover rose to £6.15 billion from £4.81 billion.
Melrose led the laggers, falling 9.8%.
The aerospace firm saw 2024 revenue rise to £3.47 billion from £3.35 billion, below the consensus estimate of £3.56 billion. Moreover its pretax loss widened to £106 million from £8 million.
ITV led the FTSE 100, gaining 5.3%.
The broadcasting firm declared an unchanged 3.3p final dividend for 2024, in which pretax profit rose 19% to £472 million from £396 million.
It forecasts revenue of between £3.55 billion and £3.70 billion for 2025.
Spire Healthcare was the worst-performing mid-cap by far, plummeting 23% despite revenue increasing to £1.51 billion from £1.36 billion, while pretax profit rose to £38.3 million from £34.6 million.
It also increased its final dividend to 2.3p from 2.1p, and expressed confidence it will deliver mid-single digit on-year revenue growth in 2025.
On AIM, Northern Bear gained 15%.
In a brief trading update, the specialist building and support services company forecast earnings before interest and tax for the year to March 31 of £3.2 million to £3.5 million, exceeding market expectations.
It noted both a ‘strong’ order book and performance from its building services division.
Petrel Resources lost 38%.
The oil & gas explorer has raised £250,000 through a placing of 23.8 million shares at 1.05p each.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 1.1%.
The European Central Bank is widely expected to make its sixth cut since June last year, with its focus having shifted recently from tackling inflation to boosting the beleaguered eurozone.
The expected quarter percentage point reduction would bring the bank’s benchmark deposit rate to 2.5%.
But massive German spending pledges and uncertainty caused by US trade policy are fuelling expectations the European Central Bank could on Thursday signal that a pause in interest rate cuts is in sight, analysts said.
For example, XTB’s Kathleen Brooks said that ‘we could see expectations of ECB rate cuts get scaled back’ if officials ‘think that higher spending on German infrastructure and defence will be inflationary’.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%, the S&P 500 up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5%.
‘Today, growth expectations prime, while the importance of the inflation outlook is no longer the same for all markets,’ Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented early on Thursday. ‘For the Federal Reserve (Fed), the inflation outlook is crucial because the tariffs are expected to have a direct impact in boosting US inflation and limiting the Fed’s ability to cut the interest rates to boost growth. In this scenario, the weak economic data is bad news.
‘In Europe, however, the inflation outlook is important but growth outlook has become more important: the European countries are obliged to boost their military budgets today no matter how fast inflation is growing.’
She added: ‘In short, US growth expectations remain closely linked to inflation and Fed policy, while European growth forecasts are getting a lift from higher spending prospects and become less dependent on the European Central Bank (ECB) monetary decisions. Weakening US growth expectations and strengthening European growth prospects continue to favour European assets.’
The pound was quoted at $1.2902 early on Thursday in London, higher compared to $1.2863 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at $1.0805, higher against $1.0764. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JP¥148.15 compared to JP¥148.58.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 3.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.6%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at $69.33 a barrel early in London on Thursday from $68.38 late Wednesday.
Gold was quoted lower at $2,905.37 an ounce against $2,926.93.
Still to come on Thursday’s economic calendar, as well as the ECB rate call look out for a construction PMI reading from the UK plus GDP from Ireland.
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