London open: Stocks up on hopes for debt ceiling, US-China talks

Stocks in London were trading slightly higher at the end of the week, amid hopes that the talks underway to raise the US government's debt ceiling might succeed.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by news that US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan had met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, in a bid to lower tensions.

Against that backdrop, as of 0836 BST the FTSE 100 was rising by 0.33% to 7,755.29.

Nevertheless, the top-flight index remained on track for a weekly loss.

Overnight, US President Joe Biden and the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, postponed until the following week a meeting that had been scheduled to take place on Friday.

The announcement sparked optimism that aides for both sides had made progress, something that was later reportedly confirmed.

In other economic news, the Office for National Statistics said that gross domestic product expanded at a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.1% over the first three months of 2023, as expected.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noted that the country's economic output remained half a percentage point below its level from before the pandemic - unlike its G7 peers - mainly due to weak consumption on the part of households.

Still ahead, at 1215 BST Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill was scheduled to deliver a speech.

At 1500 BST, the University of Michigan was scheduled to release preliminary results for its closely followed consumer confidence survey covering the month of May.

THG hangs up on Apollo

Online retailer THG called off take-over talks with US private equity outfit Apollo Global Management. Like previous offers for THG, Apollo's bid was said to have been rejected due to an "inadequate valuation" and the nature of the offer structure.

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty said it expected annual profits to be flat, with current trading in line with expectations. In a trading update ahead of its yearly shareholders meeting, the company said its order book was £17bn compared with £17.4bn at the end of December.

Beazley posted strong first quarter growth and reiterated its full-year guidance. Gross premiums grew by 12% to $1.37bn with net premiums ahead by 24% to 1.07bn. The full-year combined ratio was still seen in the high 80s.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,759.87 0.38%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,270.34 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 4,726.69 0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Beazley (BEZ) 609.50p 3.92%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 115.10p 3.04%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 149.10p 2.19%
3i Group (III) 1,834.00p 1.97%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 171.60p 1.78%
Pearson (PSON) 825.40p 1.78%
Haleon (HLN) 348.30p 1.59%
GSK (GSK) 1,466.20p 1.48%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,161.50p 1.44%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,266.00p 1.43%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Diageo (DGE) 3,563.50p -1.55%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 89.80p -1.31%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,676.00p -1.18%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,289.50p -0.69%
Shell (SHEL) 2,373.00p -0.59%
British Land Company (BLND) 380.00p -0.52%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 450.70p -0.51%
Fresnillo (FRES) 687.00p -0.49%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 456.50p -0.41%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,010.00p -0.40%

FTSE 250 - Risers

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,515.00p 7.50%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 746.00p 4.63%
ASOS (ASC) 516.60p 3.32%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 128.00p 2.24%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 201.00p 1.93%
Man Group (EMG) 215.20p 1.75%
Marshalls (MSLH) 292.20p 1.74%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 260.00p 1.72%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 3,315.00p 1.69%
Chemring Group (CHG) 283.50p 1.61%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 103.00p -4.45%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 491.20p -3.97%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,184.00p -3.87%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 224.00p -3.66%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 400.20p -2.20%
International Distributions Services (IDS) 226.30p -2.16%
IWG (IWG) 150.60p -1.89%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 78.15p -1.57%
Ninety One (N91) 171.20p -1.50%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 385.40p -1.23%