London open: Stocks little changed ahead of US PCE inflation; Moonpig tanks

London stocks were little changed in early trade on Friday as investors continued to mull Chancellor Rishi Sunak's support package, and eyed the release of key US inflation data.

At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up just 0.1% at 7,569.40.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The spectre of inflation remains a concern, with the announced measures from the government to provide support for struggling households coming to some extent at the expense of the oil majors. Wider concerns on whether this could jeopardise plans for further wholesale investment in the UK remains to be seen, even though the shorter-term impact should be positive for the economy overall.

"Even so, the FTSE 100 has continued its spell as one of the few global developed markets to be in positive territory for the year, underpinned by its exposure to basic resources and its array of stocks with defensive characteristics. The index remains ahead by 2.5% in the year to date, with the more domestically focused FTSE250 having taken the brunt of the declining outlook for the UK economy and having lost around 14% so far in 2022."

On the macro front, investors were watching out for US PCE inflation data for April due at 1330 BST.

"While inflation undoubtedly remains elevated, a drop to 6.2% from 6.6% is expected which could signal that inflation is at last turning a corner to more manageable levels," Hunter said.

In equity markets, miners were on the front foot as copper prices rose, with Glencore, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all trading up.

Moonpig tumbled after various shareholders sold around £80m worth of shares in the online greeting cards and gift retailer in a placing. The shares were sold at 250p each, which is a discount of around 8.2% to the closing share price on Thursday.

Elsewhere, pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline was a touch weaker even as it said China's National Medical Products Administration has approved a two-dose vaccine schedule for its Cervarix treatment in girls aged between 9 to 14 years for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,569.40 0.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,277.46 0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,437.05 0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 532.20p 2.50%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 120.85p 1.43%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,473.50p 1.38%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,700.00p 1.23%
3i Group (III) 1,275.50p 0.99%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,793.00p 0.96%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 503.40p 0.94%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,224.00p 0.91%
Experian (EXPN) 2,631.00p 0.88%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,790.50p 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,455.00p -2.00%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 844.60p -1.61%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 228.70p -1.55%
SSE (SSE) 1,758.00p -1.32%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 422.80p -1.26%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,904.00p -1.26%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,753.00p -1.24%
ITV (ITV) 72.76p -0.98%
National Grid (NG.) 1,175.50p -0.93%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 451.90p -0.92%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,365.00p 5.35%
LXI Reit (LXI) 148.00p 2.64%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 690.00p 2.53%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,056.00p 2.52%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,456.00p 2.33%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 290.80p 2.32%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,317.00p 2.25%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 103.50p 2.07%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 469.50p 2.07%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 417.00p 1.96%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Moonpig Group (MOON) 251.40p -7.64%
Investec (INVP) 454.10p -6.87%
Centrica (CNA) 77.16p -2.50%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 147.20p -2.13%
Trainline (TRN) 317.40p -2.07%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 111.10p -1.51%
Countryside Partnerships (CSP) 238.00p -1.41%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,018.00p -1.36%
Murray Income Trust (MUT) 872.00p -1.13%
Smithson Investment Trust (SSON) 1,236.00p -1.12%