London open: FTSE nudges up as investors eye US inflation, bank earnings

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Wednesday, as investors eyed a key inflation reading across the pond and braced for more US bank earnings.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 10,665.27, while Brent crude was up 0.5% at $106.20 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 0.4% higher at $94.50.

The US consumer price index for September is due at 1330 BST. Investors will also turn their attention to quarterly earnings from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock, following numbers from JPMorgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo on Tuesday.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Although only a handful of stocks have reported so far in this quarterly earnings season, two dominant themes are already beginning to emerge.

"The first is that despite any consumer confidence concerns, the US economy is in good shape. The banks have reported less provisions and bad debts, and in any event are largely insulated due to their cash generative and capital cushion positions. The next test follows later today with the release of the consumer price index, where a 0.6% rise month on month is expected, up from 0.4% in August, with inflation annualised to 3.6% from the previous 3.4% largely due to higher energy prices. However, if the reading were much hotter than expected, it would throw doubt on the current 80% consensus that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged later this month."

"Secondly, the sheer weight of expectations is such that companies will need exceptional numbers to move their share price dial. While the likes of JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were slightly shy of fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) trading, this was more than offset by large beats on the equity trading side. JP Morgan finished marginally lower after its price swung between gains and losses, even though it raised net income guidance for the year. Goldman Sachs also inched lower, with investors apparently ignoring its revenue beat and investment banking fees outperformance."

In UK equity markets, Rio Tinto nudged lower despite saying it remains on track to unlock around $5bn of capital by the end of 2026 after a strong operational performance helped third-quarter iron ore sales from its Pilbara operations beat market expectations.

The mining giant shipped 85.7m tonnes of iron ore in the three months to 30 September, up 2% year-on-year and ahead of analyst forecasts of 84.41m tonnes.

Big Yellow rallied after activist investor Ancora Holdings Group said the company should explore a sale.

Chemring gained after saying that its Roke subsidiary has signed a multi-year strategic partnering agreement with a major US prime contractor worth at least $170m over the first five years.

Discoverie was in the black as it said full-year adjusted earnings were running ahead of the board's expectations.

Investment manager Ashmore rose as it said assets under management edged up by $500m to $54.5bn in the first quarter, with $1.1bn of net inflows more than offsetting $600m of negative investment performance.

Softcat slid even as it hailed another year of "exceptional" growth, posting a rise in profit and gross invoiced income, driven by a "very strong", broad-based performance.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,665.27 0.14%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,406.92 0.28%

techMARK (TASX) 6,146.54 -0.16%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,063.00p 3.23%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,608.00p 1.95%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 901.60p 1.62%

Weir (WEIR) 2,734.00p 1.56%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 624.50p 1.54%

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 16,710.00p 1.46%

British Land Company (BLND) 404.80p 1.40%

Spirax Group (SPX) 7,360.00p 1.30%

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 89.04p 1.27%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,360.40p 1.22%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 3,664.00p -1.71%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,141.00p -1.02%

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 949.50p -0.94%

Computacenter (CCC) 5,635.00p -0.88%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,929.00p -0.77%

Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 12,550.00p -0.71%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,266.00p -0.69%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,862.00p -0.64%

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,697.00p -0.52%

GSK (GSK) 1,741.50p -0.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Big Yellow Group (BYG) 838.50p 4.69%

Chemring Group (CHG) 518.00p 3.74%

Discoverie Group (DSCV) 901.00p 3.41%

Pennon Group (PNN) 327.40p 3.07%

Avon Technologies (AVON) 2,410.00p 2.55%

Great Portland Estates (GPE) 318.20p 2.51%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 377.80p 2.47%

Ashmore Group (ASHM) 231.60p 2.30%

Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 247.50p 2.27%

Vistry Group (VTY) 225.80p 2.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Softcat (SCT) 1,827.00p -3.82%

Michael Page (PAGE) 185.80p -3.38%

NCC Group (NCC) 150.20p -3.35%

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,418.00p -2.26%

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,400.00p -2.23%

Breedon Group (BREE) 299.00p -2.16%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 102.60p -2.13%

Trainline (TRN) 206.00p -2.09%

Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,259.00p -1.33%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 1,474.00p -1.21%