(Sharecast News) - London stocks were little changed in early trade on Thursday, having hit fresh highs a day earlier, as investors mulled better-than-expected GDP figures.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 10,185.70, while sterling was down 0.1% against the dollar at 1.3432.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 has taken a pause this morning after reaching a record close of 10,184.35 points on Wednesday. The mining sector has had a large part to play in the strong start to the year, with metal prices on the march, and the potential for a Rio Tinto tie-up with Glencore fuelling consolidation fever. Improving economic news is also adding to the positive mood."
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the economy grew more than expected in November.
GDP grew 0.3% following a 0.1% contraction in October, and versus expectations for just 0.1% growth. September's figures were revised to show growth of 0.1%, up from an initial estimate of a fall of 0.1%.
The services sector grew 0.3% while production expanded by 1.1%, but construction fell 1.3% in November.
The data showed that production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers grew 25.5% in November following 9.6% growth in October and a 29.5% decline in September, when operations at JLR were hit by a cyberattack.
The ONS said the industry has now almost returned to August 2025 levels.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The economy grew slightly in the latest three months, led by growth in the services sector, which performed better in November following a weak October.
"This was partially offset by a fall in manufacturing, where three-monthly growth was still affected by the cyber incident that impacted car production earlier in the Autumn.
"However, data for the latest month show that this industry has now largely recovered.
"Construction contracted again, registering its largest three-monthly fall in nearly three years."
HL's Nathan said: "UK GDP grew 0.3% in November compared to forecasts of just 0.1% with services doing much of the heavy lifting. Add yesterday's comments from the Bank of England's Alan Taylor that inflation is on track to reach target levels of 2% by the middle of the year, and the case for a soft landing would look to be holding the high ground. But it's not all good news with today's economic output figures revealing broadly flat production numbers and a 1.1% fall in construction activity."
In equity markets, Schroders surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after the asset manager said full-year adjusted operating profit was set to be at least 745m, coming in ahead of market expectations.
Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore also racked up strong gains as it said second-quarter assets under management rose 8% to $3.8bn.
Elsewhere, pub group Mitchells and Butlers advanced as it said first quarter like-for-like sales grew to 4.5%, driven by a strong Christmas period. The All Bar One and Harvester owner said LFL sales from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day rose 10.5%.
On the downside, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey slumped as it said annual profits looked set to narrowly miss expectations.
Operating profits were slated to come in around 420m, up on last year's 416.2m but below the 424m forecast.
Peers Barratt Redrow, Persimmon, Berkeley, Bellway and Vistry all fell.
Homeware retailer Dunelm tanked after saying it expects full-year profits to come in at the lower end of market forecasts as a result of a "challenging environment" in the first half, in which sales growth slowed significantly towards the end of 2025.
Full-year pre-tax profit is now expected to be at the bottom end of the 214m-227m consensus range.
Budget airline easyJet flew lower after a downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' at Deutsche Bank.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,185.70 0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,960.49 0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 5,871.65 0.44%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Schroders (SDR) 442.40p 5.99%
3i Group (III) 3,126.00p 3.00%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,884.00p 2.48%
ICG (ICG) 2,016.00p 2.18%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 360.80p 1.46%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,228.20p 1.25%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,067.00p 1.23%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 637.20p 1.14%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,496.00p 1.12%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,857.00p 1.12%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 3,642.00p -3.29%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 357.50p -3.09%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,323.50p -2.07%
BP (BP.) 434.75p -1.97%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,520.00p -1.57%
Kingfisher (KGF) 312.30p -1.54%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,276.00p -1.24%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,828.00p -1.19%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,915.00p -1.09%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,296.00p -1.08%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 199.00p 9.04%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 870.00p 8.21%
SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 53.50p 3.68%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,285.00p 3.63%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 486.80p 2.66%
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 71.00p 2.60%
WH Smith (SMWH) 638.50p 2.32%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,247.00p 1.96%
Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 301.40p 1.82%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 217.20p 1.78%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,002.00p -14.36%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 99.44p -4.29%
Future (FUTR) 498.00p -4.23%
Bellway (BWY) 2,598.00p -2.26%
AJ Bell (AJB) 441.60p -2.17%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 206.60p -1.90%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 570.50p -1.89%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income (JMGI) 141.60p -1.80%
Grainger (GRI) 189.60p -1.76%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 169.10p -1.69%
54.59 (0.54%)
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