London open: Stocks flat as BP results disappoint

London stocks were steady in early trade on Tuesday, with BP under pressure after disappointing third-quarter numbers, as investors mulled the latest data out of China and UK shop price index.

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,327.27.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Relief about the prospects for inflation is rippling through, as the rate of food price rises falls in the UK and oil beds in lower, but it’s being offset by renewed concerns about China’s economic fragility."

Data released earlier by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that the manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49.5 in October from 50.2 a month earlier, coming in below the 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion and missing expectations for a reading of 50.2.

The non-manufacturing PMI declined to 50.6 in October from 51.7 from in September.

On home shores, meanwhile, industry data showed that shop price inflation fell in October to its lowest level since August 2022.

According to the British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ shop price index, annual inflation eased to 5.2% from 6.2% in September. This marked the fifth consecutive month of deceleration.

Food inflation eased to 8.8% this month from 9.9% in September, marking the sixth consecutive month of deceleration and hitting the lowest since July 2022.

Fresh Food inflation slowed to 8.3% in October from 9.6% in September, while ambient food inflation eased to 9.5% from 10.4%.

Meanwhile, non-food inflation fell from 4.4% to 3.4% - its lowest since September 2022.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "Imported goods saw higher levels of inflation due to a weaker pound, still-high producer costs and emerging trade frictions, while prices for some domestically produced foods, such as fruit, were lower compared to last month.

"Prices of children’s and baby clothing also fell as retailers continued to support families as the colder weather descended.

"Retailers have been battling to keep prices down for their customers in the face of rising transport costs, high interest rates and other input costs. To keep inflation heading in the right direction, it is vital that the Government does not burden businesses with unnecessary new costs.

"Without immediate action from the Chancellor, retailers have an additional £470m per year on their business rates bill, jeopardising the progress made. Ultimately, it’s consumers who would pay the price for the rising rates bill."

In equity markets, oil giant BP was under the cosh as it reported a third-quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $3.3bn, an improvement from $2.6bn in the second quarter but down from $8.2bn in the same period a year earlier and missing forecasts of $4bn.

InterContinental Hotels was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan Cazenove.

On the upside, Rolls-Royce was boosted by an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ at Barclays, which highlighted a "buying opportunity" after the shares de-rated around 10% in the past month.

IG Group gained as the online trading platform announced plans to axe around 10% of its worldwide workforce as it looks to cut costs and streamline the business. Alongside other efficiency measures, this is expected to deliver full run rate cost savings of £50m a year.

Precision instrumentation and controls company Spectris advanced as it said it expects full-year profits to be at the top end of forecasts after continued strong sales growth and margin improvements in the third quarter.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,327.27 0.00%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,050.26 0.19%
techMARK (TASX) 4,004.06 0.17%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 209.60p 3.76%
Pearson (PSON) 968.80p 2.39%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 469.90p 1.56%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 712.80p 1.16%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 916.40p 0.97%
Barclays (BARC) 131.84p 0.90%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 216.40p 0.89%
Kingfisher (KGF) 206.10p 0.88%
Next (NXT) 6,898.00p 0.88%
Informa (INF) 717.40p 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

BP (BP.) 507.80p -3.59%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,880.00p -1.87%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 113.20p -1.48%
F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 835.00p -0.71%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,359.50p -0.69%
Rightmove (RMV) 478.10p -0.50%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,132.00p -0.47%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,215.00p -0.46%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 638.00p -0.44%
St James's Place (STJ) 639.00p -0.41%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 1,952.00p 5.06%
CAB Payments Holdings (CABP) 56.75p 3.75%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 579.00p 3.67%
Spectris (SXS) 3,090.00p 2.79%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 2,800.00p 2.56%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 134.40p 2.44%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 313.60p 2.42%
Currys (CURY) 45.92p 2.41%
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 782.90p 2.01%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,030.00p 1.82%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Keller Group (KLR) 745.00p -3.12%
888 Holdings (DI) (888) 79.95p -2.74%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,159.00p -2.69%
Savills (SVS) 748.50p -2.16%
Britvic (BVIC) 818.50p -2.15%
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) 84.70p -2.08%
Redrow (RDW) 469.00p -1.88%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 552.50p -1.69%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,506.00p -1.57%
Quilter (QLT) 78.05p -1.45%