London open: Stocks rise as StanChart, Smurfit rally

London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, helped along by solid performances from the likes of Standard Chartered and Smurfit Kappa, as investors mulled the latest policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.

At 0930 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 8,165.74 .

Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The US Federal Reserve met yesterday and held US rates steady. The move was widely expected after recent economic data showed the US struggling still to get the inflation genie back inside the lamp. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Fed Chair, Jay Powell said he did not know how long it would be before the Fed was confident enough to begin cutting rates.

"Modest gains in US Treasuries suggest this was all that markets were expecting to hear. Rates are still going to come down, but we’ve a way to go first. With economies in the euro zone and UK looking weaker, maybe it will be this side of the Atlantic that takes the first step toward cutting rates?"

Investors were also mulling the latest from the OECD, which cut its UK growth forecast for this year to 0.4% from 0.7% predicted in February, as it cited high taxes and interest rates. Among the G7, only Germany is expected to perform worse, with 0.2% growth projected.

The OECD said UK GDP growth was expected to "remain sluggish" in the face of a "waning drag from past monetary tightening".

In equity markets, Standard Chartered surged as it backed its full-year guidance and posted better-than-expected first-quarter profits as it continued to benefit from higher interest rates. Pre-tax profit rose 6% to $1.9bn, coming in ahead of expectations of $1.4bn. Net profit increased 5% to $1.22bn, comfortably beating expectations of $798m.

Smurfit Kappa rallied as it hailed a "very strong" first quarter and said box demand has continued to improve, with volume growth in Europe and the Americas.

Oil and gas giant Shell was also in the black as it reported a 15% jump in earnings in the first three months of the year compared with the final quarter of the year, on the back of higher margins from crude and oil products trading. It also unveiled a new $3.5bn share buyback.

Fluid engineering specialist TI Fluid Systems was trading up as it held guidance after first-quarter revenues fell 0.4%, in line with expectations.

On the downside, Relx, Glencore, Inchcape, Senior, Genuit and IWG all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Melrose Industries lost ground even as it posted an increase in revenues and backed its guidance for the year.

Hiscox also fell even as it reported a rise in first-quarter written premiums as it benefited from accelerated growth in the retail segment.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,165.74 0.55%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,974.16 0.24%
techMARK (TASX) 4,594.53 0.17%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 733.80p 5.58%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,618.00p 4.15%
Prudential (PRU) 721.00p 2.27%
Diploma (DPLM) 3,690.00p 1.99%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 133.05p 1.91%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 176.35p 1.91%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 461.90p 1.74%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,544.50p 1.61%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 113.60p 1.52%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 15,115.00p 1.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 608.40p -2.06%
Beazley (BEZ) 651.50p -1.14%
Haleon (HLN) 327.30p -1.12%
Entain (ENT) 777.40p -0.97%
Relx plc (REL) 3,273.00p -0.82%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,515.00p -0.72%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,682.00p -0.70%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,078.00p -0.68%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 405.30p -0.54%
3i Group (III) 2,830.00p -0.53%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 141.40p 3.67%
Redrow (RDW) 653.50p 2.59%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,230.00p 2.41%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 191.80p 2.35%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 105.20p 2.33%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 468.40p 2.32%
Investec (INVP) 535.50p 2.19%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 222.80p 2.01%
Trainline (TRN) 298.60p 1.98%
Future (FUTR) 680.00p 1.87%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,174.00p -3.53%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 250.00p -3.10%
Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 87.50p -2.67%
Inchcape (INCH) 775.50p -2.39%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 74.60p -2.23%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,660.00p -2.12%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 702.00p -2.09%
Coats Group (COA) 80.30p -1.71%
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 923.70p -1.57%
Genuit Group (GEN) 431.50p -1.48%