London midday: Stocks flat as investors mull PBOC; grocery price inflation eases

London stocks were flat by midday on Tuesday as investors mulled the latest policy announcement in China and UK grocery price data, and looked ahead to inflation data and an expected rate hike from the Bank of England this week.

The FTSE 100 was steady at 7,589.00.

Earlier, the People’s Bank of China cut two key lending rates as it looks to bolster the economy.

The central bank cut the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points to 3.55% and the five-year rate by 10 basis points to 4.2%. This was the first such move in 10 months.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "China’s injection of stimulus in its flagging economy was expected, and so it’s failed to pump a bounce of sentiment into the markets. By cutting the 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates by 0.1%, the aim is to bolster lending, but investors appear a little underwhelmed by the action and are waiting until further moves promised to bolster the economy materialise."

On home turf, industry data out earlier showed that grocery price inflation has eased to its lowest monthly level this year.

According to Kantar Worldpanel, grocery price inflation was 16.5% for the four weeks to 11 June, down from 17.2% a month earlier. This was still the sixth highest monthly figure since 2008.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said that while the easing will be a relief to shoppers and retailers, prices rising at 16.5% "isn’t something to celebrate and it’s still the sixth highest monthly figure in the past 15 years".

"Price rises are now being compared to the increasing rate of grocery inflation seen last summer, which means that it should continue to fall in the coming months, a welcome result for everyone," he said.

The data showed that prices are rising fastest in markets such as eggs, ambient cooking sauces and frozen potato products.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, investors were eyeing the latest UK inflation data on Wednesday, ahead of an expected rate hike by the Bank of England on Thursday.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The Bank finds itself between a rock and a hard place, with marginal growth being offset by persistent inflation and widespread wage increases, which themselves are inflationary."

In equity markets, Frasers Group was in focus after it took an 8.9% stake in electricals retailer Currys and a 5% stake in online fashion retailer Boohoo.

Online supermarket Ocado was under the cosh after JPMorgan Cazenove cut its price target on the shares to 400p from 450p and placed the stock on ‘negative catalyst watch’ into first-half results.

In terms of sectors, miners were on the back foot, with Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta all lower.

Outside the FTSE 350. Lookers surged after agreeing to be bought by Toronto-based car dealership Alpha Auto Group in a £465.4m cash deal.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,589.00 0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,730.11 -0.66%
techMARK (TASX) 4,557.18 0.05%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 156.95p 2.05%
BAE Systems (BA.) 964.00p 1.43%
Beazley (BEZ) 582.50p 1.30%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 563.20p 1.19%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 638.00p 1.17%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,190.00p 0.92%
Relx plc (REL) 2,633.00p 0.84%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,742.00p 0.82%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,046.00p 0.77%
GSK (GSK) 1,362.00p 0.75%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 417.90p -3.91%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,422.50p -2.48%
Glencore (GLEN) 450.45p -1.86%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 121.20p -1.86%
SEGRO (SGRO) 734.00p -1.79%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,490.50p -1.71%
Rightmove (RMV) 520.00p -1.70%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,094.00p -1.62%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 248.70p -1.58%
Prudential (PRU) 1,112.00p -1.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers

NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,600.00p 2.56%
Currys (CURY) 54.00p 1.98%
Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 454.00p 1.91%
Indivior (INDV) 1,750.00p 1.45%
Me Group International (MEGP) 163.00p 1.24%
Vanquis Banking Group 20 (VANQ) 196.20p 1.13%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 213.20p 1.04%
Investec (INVP) 464.00p 0.91%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 75.10p 0.67%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,325.00p 0.61%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Genuit Group (GEN) 296.00p -4.67%
Trainline (TRN) 270.00p -4.26%
Synthomer (SYNT) 77.10p -3.69%
Tyman (TYMN) 256.50p -3.57%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 90.00p -3.43%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 125.40p -3.39%
Capita (CPI) 30.20p -3.33%
Darktrace (DARK) 320.80p -3.11%
Digital 9 Infrastructure NPV (DGI9) 66.00p -3.08%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 91.50p -3.07%