London open: FTSE rises as investors mull China inflation data

London stocks rose in early trade on Friday following upbeat US and Asian sessions, as investors welcomed news of slowing inflation in China.

At 0850 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 1% at 7,337.24.

Although markets remained open after the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, it is expected that the day of her funeral - likely to be 19 September - will be a public holiday, so markets will be closed.

On the macro front, figures released earlier by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that inflation in China slowed in August amid weak demand.

Consumer price inflation declined to 2.5% on the year from 2.7% in July, coming in below consensus expectations of 2.8%. This was driven by a moderation in food price inflation, which dropped to 6.1% from 6.3%.

Meanwhile, producer price inflation fell to 2.3% in August from 4.2% a month earlier, versus consensus expectations of 3.1%. It marked the slowed pace since February 2021.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, came in at 0.8%, in line with July.

Capital Economics said: "Consumer price inflation fell in August and remains below the People’s Bank of China’s preferred ceiling of 3%, leaving room for the Bank to ease policy further.

"Meanwhile, producer price inflation declined to its lowest in 18 months. We expect both inflation measures to continue falling over the rest of the year."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were the top performers on the FTSE 100 as copper prices rallied, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all higher.

Online fashion retailer Asos edged up as it said total sales and adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to the end of August are set to be in line with market expectations, and that sales in August had been weaker than expected.

IT services firm Computacenter was in the red as it posted a drop in interim profits.

Primark owner AB Foods was also on the back foot after a downgrade to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’ at Barclays.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,337.24 1.04%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,071.92 1.03%
techMARK (TASX) 4,309.51 0.36%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,929.50p 4.83%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,203.50p 4.56%
Glencore (GLEN) 489.95p 3.99%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,895.00p 3.59%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 608.80p 2.70%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,287.00p 2.63%
Centrica (CNA) 84.84p 2.49%
Fresnillo (FRES) 724.40p 2.37%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 473.40p 2.14%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,495.00p 2.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 120.05p -3.81%
Avast (AVST) 713.00p -1.00%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,820.00p -0.70%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,941.50p -0.61%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,903.00p -0.51%
Diageo (DGE) 3,757.50p -0.34%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,988.00p -0.20%
Meggitt (MGGT) 798.60p 0.00%
National Grid (NG.) 1,066.00p 0.00%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,095.00p 0.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 359.70p 6.70%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 151.00p 6.19%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 152.90p 4.94%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 116.80p 4.01%
Drax Group (DRX) 759.50p 3.69%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 228.50p 3.63%
Currys (CURY) 67.00p 3.55%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,660.00p 3.54%
Synthomer (SYNT) 190.60p 3.42%
AJ Bell (AJB) 271.00p 3.36%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 254.80p -16.02%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,386.00p -3.17%
Genus (GNS) 2,776.00p -0.79%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 1,628.00p -0.73%
AVI Global Trust (AGT) 184.80p -0.65%
Edinburgh Inv Trust (EDIN) 582.00p -0.51%
Alliance Trust (ATST) 971.00p -0.41%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 73.00p -0.41%
City of London Inv Trust (CTY) 399.50p -0.25%
Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited (SEQI) 87.80p -0.23%