London open: FTSE ticks up amid deluge of corporate news, ahead of BoE

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday as oil prices rose, with all eyes on policy announcements from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank amid a deluge of corporate news.

At 0900 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 10,229.13 - faring better than its European counterparts - while Brent crude was 3% higher at $121.60 a barrel following a report the US military is due to brief president Donald Trump on potential action against Iran.

According to Axios, Trump is rejecting an Iranian proposal to first open the Strait of Hormuz and lift the blockade, and postpone nuclear talks to a later stage. Axios, which cited two sources with knowledge of the matter, said the US Central Command (CENTCOM) will present Trump with plans for possible military action.

Trump reportedly told Axios he is going to keep Iran under a naval blockade until the regime agrees to a deal that addresses US concerns about its nuclear program.

It was understood that CENTCOM has prepared a plan for a "short and powerful" wave of strikes on Iran in hopes of breaking the negotiating deadlock.

Axios said that after the strikes, which would likely include infrastructure targets, the US would press the regime to come back to the negotiating table and show more flexibility.

Trump told Axios he saw the blockade as "somewhat more effective than the bombing," and sources said he had yet to order any kinetic action as of Tuesday night.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "A fresh fire has been lit under oil prices, amid reports that attacks on Iran could resume. The US military is understood to be preparing for a resumption of military action, dashing hopes of a lasting ceasefire and sending worries of a severe energy crunch surging. Brent crude hit a wartime high of $126 a barrel, before declining as uncertainty swirled.

"Trump has reportedly rejected Tehran's plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and is doubling down on the US naval blockade of Iran's ports. With oil storage limited, Iranian facilities may have to reduce production within days. There had been high hopes that a ceasefire would start to see prices at the pumps retreat, but amid this standoff, it seems that the only way is up for the cost of filling up.

"It's also set to keep freight costs highly elevated, looks set to push packaging costs higher, given plastics are made from petrochemicals and could have a highly damaging effect on global food production. Urea shipments, used for fertiliser, are blocked and costs have rocketed for farmers around the world, who didn't buy stocks in advance. The worry is that all these costs will be passed on through supply chains, pushing up the price of everyday goods, later in the year and into next year.

"These are all concerns that central bankers meeting today will have front of mind. For now, a wait-and-see stance is expected to be adopted, with the Bank of England looking set to keep rates on hold, and the European Central Bank poised to take the same action."

The BoE rate announcement is due at midday, while the ECB announcement is at 1315 BST.

Investors were also digesting results from four of the 'Magnificent Seven' after Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon reported overnight.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Big Tech results gave investors plenty to chew over, but the broad message was hard to miss as AI moves from promise to profit engine. Growth was strong across the group, cloud demand accelerated, and the message from management was clear: the buildout continues.

"The market was less united on what to make of the spending plans, with investors still trying to balance the scale of the AI opportunity against the cash required to chase it. But the bigger takeaway is that this cycle is nowhere near cooling. The train has left the station, demand for compute is still running ahead of supply, and with expectations for 2027 capex still looking too low, the AI hardware trade looks like it has further to run."

The Fed's latest policy announcement was also in focus after it left rates on hold as widely expected but with the highest level of dissent since 1992.

On the UK corporate front, there was deluge of news for investors to sink their teeth into.

United Utilities rallied as it announced plans to raise �800m in a share sale to support a material uplift in AMP8 investment to around �11.5bn from �9bn. Severn Trent, British Gas owner Centrica, National Grid and Pennon also gained.

Persimmon advanced as the housebuilder hailed a good start to the year but also flagged early signs of increased inflationary pressure.

Rolls-Royce rose as it held guidance after making a strong start to the year across all divisions as it moved quickly to mitigate the impact of the Iran war.

Shell and BP gushed higher in tandem with oil prices.

Standard Chartered nudged up as the bank's first-quarter profits came in ahead of expectations, driven by strong growth in the blue chip's wealth business.

Unilever ticked higher as the consumer goods giant reconfirmed its outlook despite heightened macroeconomic activity, following a robust start to the year.

On the downside, Weir, Greggs, Genuit and Bodycote all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend. Weir was also in focus after a first-quarter trading update.

Whitbread fell as it announced a new five-year plan that will involve the sale and leaseback of �1.5bn of its freehold properties, target �2bn of free cash flow, reduce gross capital expenditure by �1bn and result in the loss of around 3,800 jobs.

DCC slumped after saying it had rejected a 5,800p per share cash takeover proposal from US investment firms Energy Capital Partners and KKR.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,229.13 0.16%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,213.53 0.06%

techMARK (TASX) 5,818.40 0.09%

FTSE 100 - Risers

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,462.50p 10.90%

Severn Trent (SVT) 3,225.00p 5.61%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,055.50p 3.02%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,134.80p 2.86%

GSK (GSK) 1,922.50p 1.37%

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,158.00p 1.29%

Centrica (CNA) 209.70p 1.21%

Glencore (GLEN) 560.60p 1.07%

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 246.30p 0.98%

National Grid (NG.) 1,293.40p 0.86%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Weir Group (WEIR) 2,556.00p -7.60%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,280.00p -5.20%

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,620.00p -4.85%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 7,908.00p -2.25%

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,493.00p -2.23%

Entain (ENT) 546.00p -1.87%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 34.40p -1.86%

Barclays (BARC) 425.00p -1.62%

3i Group (III) 2,501.00p -1.48%

IMI (IMI) 2,758.00p -1.29%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Pennon Group (PNN) 550.00p 6.39%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 603.50p 5.17%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,292.00p 3.67%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 116.80p 3.55%

Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 8.78p 3.54%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 643.00p 3.06%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 612.50p 3.04%

Pan African Resources (PAF) 139.30p 2.37%

Harbour Energy (HBR) 296.60p 1.92%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 272.90p 1.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Greggs (GRG) 1,507.50p -3.34%

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,646.00p -2.68%

Genuit Group (GEN) 254.20p -2.61%

Bodycote (BOY) 668.00p -2.27%

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited (SEQI) 79.70p -2.21%

Henderson Far East Income Ltd. (HFEL) 256.00p -1.92%

Elementis (ELM) 146.60p -1.88%

Playtech (PTEC) 367.80p -1.82%

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 247.60p -1.59%

Hays (HAS) 32.70p -1.56%