London open: Stocks recover despite US selloff

At 0915 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,262.99.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "European markets are attempting to regain some ground after Monday’s drop with technology, which was hit hardest yesterday, leading the gains. The DAX and the CAC are up by more than 1% while the FTSE 100 is staging more tempered gains, heading up towards 7,300 as the key intraday resistance level to watch.

"The market sell-off intensified with the Nasdaq shedding over 4% while the S&P 500 slumped to more than one-year lows in an extension of the negativity late last week. Tech was hit particularly hard with Tesla shedding more than 9% and Uber declining by over 11.5%.

"Wednesday’s post-Fed bullish glow proved to be short-lived and was quickly overpowered by the forceful anxious market mood which propelled this three-day decline resulting in a $220 billion market cap loss for Apple and for Tesla to push back below the psychological $1 trillion valuation mark. This sense of bearishness is preventing opportunistic investors from scooping up discounted stocks at cheaper prices on the expectation that there is likely to be more pain to come. However this morning it looks like there could be some relief for the markets, suggesting yesterday’s sell-off was somewhat overdone.

"The fact that inflation is marching higher, the cheap money era is ending, China is facing an economic slowdown and the war in Ukraine endures are all coming together to provide a daunting reality check that has contributed to the more than 100% surge in the VIX volatility index since the January low."

On home shores, a survey out earlier showed that retail sales fell in April as the mounting cost of living crisis started to bite.

According to the latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, like-for-like sales fell 1.7% in the four weeks to 30 April compared to the same period a year previously, when they increased 39.6%. On a total basis, sales decreased 0.3%. It was the first decline in sales for over a year.

Food sales decreased 1.3% in the three months to April, or by 1.8% on a like-for-like basis. Non-food sales increased by 1.8% or 6.9% on a total basis, although that remains well below the 12-month total average for growth of 11.1%.

In addition, the British Retail Consortium noted that as sales figures were not adjusted for inflation, the small drop in sales would have masked "a much larger drop" in volumes once inflation was accounted for.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "The rising cost of living has crushed consumer confidence and put the brakes on consumer spending. Sales growth has been slowing since January, though the real extent of this decline has been masked by rising inflation."

In equity markets, British Gas owner Centrica gained after saying that full-year adjusted earnings per share were set to be at the top end of analyst expectations following a strong performance in the first four months of 2022.

Elsewhere, IWG was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Berenberg.

Precision instrument maker Spectris advanced after announcing the acquisition of US firm Dytran Instruments for $82m (£66m).

Media platform operator Future was also in the black after it acquired US-based women's lifestyle publisher WhoWhatWear from Clique Brands for an undisclosed sum.

On the downside, Renishaw lost ground after the engineer cut its annual profit forecast.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,262.99 0.64%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,470.81 0.85%
techMARK (TASX) 4,231.90 0.40%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 112.40p 4.46%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,153.00p 3.66%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 562.60p 2.85%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,602.50p 2.59%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,694.50p 2.54%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,850.00p 2.36%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,299.00p 2.36%
Royal Mail (RMG) 330.00p 2.36%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,078.00p 2.26%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 317.40p 2.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 139.30p -3.33%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,933.00p -0.85%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,064.50p -0.79%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,068.00p -0.71%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,727.80p -0.52%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,074.00p -0.37%
Fresnillo (FRES) 765.60p -0.29%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 118.52p -0.17%
BT Group (BT.A) 173.30p -0.14%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,249.50p -0.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Centrica (CNA) 75.50p 4.95%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 143.20p 4.75%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 133.80p 3.88%
IWG (IWG) 229.90p 3.51%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 237.00p 3.27%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 210.60p 3.24%
JTC (JTC) 658.00p 3.13%
Spectris (SXS) 2,932.00p 3.13%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 136.90p 3.09%
Darktrace (DARK) 424.20p 2.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Polymetal International (POLY) 258.30p -2.53%
Energean (ENOG) 1,261.00p -2.40%
National Express Group (NEX) 240.80p -1.87%
SSP Group (SSPG) 210.10p -1.45%
Renishaw (RSW) 4,132.00p -1.38%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,360.00p -1.18%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 222.40p -1.16%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 4,175.00p -1.07%
Indivior (INDV) 279.80p -1.06%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 50.50p -0.88%