Stock prices in London opened mostly in the green on Friday, while the UK economy remained in the doldrums in October, hurtling to a surprise decline.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 10.61 points, 0.1%, at 8,322.37. The FTSE 250 was up 55.00 points, 0.3%, at 21,004.04, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.74 of a point, 0.1%, at 736.82.
The Cboe UK 100 was 0.1% higher at 835.63, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 18,497.62, and the Cboe Small Companies fell 0.1% to 16,256.02.
The CAC 40 was up 0.2% in Paris. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.4% higher.
The pound was quoted at $1.2622 early Friday, slumping from $1.2698 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at $1.0467, down from $1.0491. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥153.14, rising from JP¥152.22.
The UK economy remained in the doldrums, registering a surprise decline in October, numbers on Friday showed.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK gross domestic product fell 0.1% in October from a month prior. In September, GDP had fallen at the same rate.
Growth of 0.1% was expected for October, however, according to consensus cited by FXStreet.
The ONS said the weak reading for October was ‘largely because of a decline in production output’.
‘Monthly services output showed no growth in October 2024 after also showing no growth in September 2024, but grew by 0.1% in the three months to October 2024,’ the ONS said.
‘Production output fell by 0.6% in October 2024, because of falls in manufacturing, and mining and quarrying output, following a fall of 0.5% in September 2024; production output fell by 0.3% in the three months to October 2024.’
The ONS said monthly production output in October was at the lowest since May 2020.
Pantheon Macroeconomics analyst Rob Wood commented: ‘Global tariff threats, uncertainty from the Budget, a weak month for consumer spending and volatile sectors dragged GDP into another month-to-month fall in October. We think much of the drop in GDP can, however, be put down to erratic sectors that should bounceback in November. But after October’s fall in output we cut our forecast for Q4 GDP growth to 0.1% quarter-to-quarter, below our previous call and the [Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s] forecast of 0.3%. We doubt the MPC will react much to these figures. For a start, weak growth was likely partly erratic and partly driven by uncertainty that should fade. Moreover, the MPC has to take account of stubbornly elevated price pressures as payroll tax hikes in the budget boost business costs. We expect the MPC to keep rates on hold next week and cut by 25bp in February.’
It has been a week of ‘keeping up with the central banks’, Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented.
‘This week has been rich in terms of interest rate cuts from major central banks. The Reserve Bank of Australia didn’t cut its rates but gave an unexpectedly dovish statement, citing that the RBA officials are turning more confident that inflation is on path toward their policy goal. The Bank of Canada delivered a second 50bp cut in a row, following three 25bp cuts before that. Then, the Swiss National Bank delivered a 50bp cut – it was not the base case scenario but it was not a surprise, either,’ the analyst said.
‘The European Central Bank also cut, but the European officials decided to go ahead with a cautious 25bp cut before Xmas, and Lagarde didn’t say much about what the ECB would do in the next meetings. She stuck to the ’data dependence’ rhetoric. But, still, the ECB lowered its growth and inflation forecasts – reviving hope of back-to-back cuts next year – but not too much either as Lagarde highlighted that inflation has come down but remains strong and that risks to inflation remains high. She talked about geopolitical risks that could boost energy prices and climate risks that could boost food prices. She didn’t mention Trump, she rather said that the eurozone countries should consider Mario Draghi’s innovation booster plan to give the European economies a boost.’
In New York overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 lost 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.7%.
In Tokyo on Friday, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.0%, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite shed 2.0% and the Hang Seng Index plunged 2.1%.
China on Thursday vowed to boost domestic consumption next year, state media said, as leaders grappling with sluggish demand concluded a key economic policy meeting. The announcement failed to boost Asian stocks on Friday, however.
Miners, exposed to the Chinese economy, struggled in London. Anglo American fell 1.0%, while Rio Tinto shed 0.8%. Asia-focused insurer Prudential fell 0.7%.
At the top of the index, however, brewer Diageo extended gains, adding 1.5% to its 2.8% rise on Thursday. A double-upgrade from UBS lifted the Guinness maker on Thursday.
Elsewhere in London, Impax Asset Management slumped 22% after receiving notice that it has lost some business from St James’s Place.
SJP has terminated Impax Asset Management’s mandate to manage the Sustainable & Responsible Equity Fund. The termination is to take effect in February, subject to the fund seeking final approval from unitholders at an extraordinary general meeting next month.
It represented the only business Impax Asset Management had with SJP and it totalled £5.2 billion of assets under management as of the end of November.
‘The impact on Impax’s revenue is expected to be circa £12.7 million on an annualized basis. The termination of the Mandate has been driven by SJP seeking to further diversify the fund across investment styles,’ Impax added.
Brent oil was quoted at $73.48 a barrel early Friday, rising from $72.61 late Thursday. Gold was flat at $2,681.87 an ounce against $2,681.37.
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