London open: Stocks edge up as investors digest GDP data

London stocks edged up in early trade on Friday following heavy losses in the previous session, as investors digested the latest UK GDP data.

At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,043.90.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that economic growth slowed to just 0.1% in July from 1% in June amid rising Covid cases and materials shortages. This missed consensus expectations for growth of 0.7% and leaves the UK economy 2.1% below pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.

The ONS noted issues with the ‘pingdemic’ and materials shortages.

ONS deputy national statistician Jonathan Athow said: "After many months during which the economy grew strongly, making up much of the lost ground from the pandemic, there was little growth overall in July.

"Oil and gas provided the biggest boost, having partially bounced back after summer maintenance. Car production also continued to recover from recent component shortages.

"Rising costs and shortages of raw materials pegged back the construction sector again."

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the "measly" rise in monthly GDP "shows that amid rising Covid-19 cases and broadening product/labour shortages, the economic recovery has stalled".

"More timely evidence suggests August may not have been much better," he added.

Corporate news was scarce, but Cineworld ticked a touch higher after saying it would pay $170m of a judgement to dissenting shareholders of Regal Entertainment Group after the company’s takeover of the movie theatre chain in 2018.

A further $92m will be placed into an escrow account to be available to Cineworld as additional liquidity “under certain circumstance”. The funds in the escrow account will paid to the dissenting shareholders no later than March 31, 2022.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,043.90 0.28%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,833.57 0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,713.76 0.10%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rightmove (RMV) 749.80p 1.79%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,946.00p 1.65%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,417.00p 1.25%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,816.00p 1.22%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 591.00p 1.13%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,220.00p 1.10%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,543.50p 1.05%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,070.50p 1.02%
Experian (EXPN) 3,285.00p 1.01%
Barclays (BARC) 183.40p 0.91%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 149.82p -1.10%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,458.00p -0.97%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 452.20p -0.57%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 687.00p -0.52%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,353.50p -0.51%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,822.00p -0.45%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 4,153.00p -0.43%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,271.50p -0.39%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 295.80p -0.37%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,653.50p -0.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,517.00p 2.64%
Scottish American Inv Company (SAIN) 519.00p 1.96%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 241.50p 1.68%
Chemring Group (CHG) 331.50p 1.53%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 111.80p 1.45%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 2,490.00p 1.43%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 640.50p 1.43%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,965.00p 1.41%
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 1,090.00p 1.30%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,344.00p 1.20%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Babcock International Group (BAB) 333.30p -2.11%
Avon Protection (AVON) 1,765.00p -1.89%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 296.20p -1.66%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 281.00p -1.40%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 368.00p -1.39%
easyJet (EZJ) 700.00p -1.16%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 324.60p -1.10%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 426.60p -0.93%
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 244.60p -0.89%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 189.10p -0.89%