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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 looked set to end the week on a high note in early Friday trading, buoyed by strong US economic data and rising oil prices.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 59.70, up 0.8%, at 7,589.43. The FTSE 250 was down 15.69 points, 0.1%, at 19,207.41, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.52 of a point, 0.1%, at 747.58.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.8% at 758.53, the Cboe UK 250 was slightly lower at 16,655.71, and the Cboe Small Companies was slightly higher at 14,915.87.
In European equities, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%, while CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.5%.
In Paris, LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton jumped 8.2%.
The Paris-based luxury goods company reported an acceleration in fourth quarter sales as it exited a problematic year in a brighter mood. Organic sales grew 10% to EUR23.95 billion in the quarter ending December 31, improving from organic growth of 9% in the previous quarter.
This helped LVMH record 2023 revenue of EUR86.2 billion, organic growth of 13% with respect to EUR79.18 billion the year prior.
Over in London, luxury fashion house Burberry rose 2.9% in a positive read-across.
Large-cap oil majors were rising in early exchanges in London, tracking the price of oil higher. Shell rose 1.8% and BP rose 1.9%.
Brent oil fetched USD82.01 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD81.37 late Thursday, rising in response to strong US economic data, and potential of supply disruption amid escalations in the Red Sea.
In the FTSE 250, WH Smith rose 1.3%, reporting a "strong" start to its financial year, ahead of its annual general meeting.
In the 20-week period to January 20, the retailer said its travel business was growing strongly across all its divisions, with revenue up 13%. It also said its UK performance was notably strong, with total revenue up 15% or 14% on a like-for-like basis. For the group as a whole, revenue was up 8%, or 9% on a constant currency basis, but 5% on a like-for-like basis. WH Smith said it was on track to open over 110 stores in the financial year, with over 50 of these to be in North America where it is making "excellent progress".
Among small-caps, Saga added 5.5%.
Saga responded to media reports about the firm considering a sale of its cruise arm. Late Thursday, Sky news had reported the over-50s travel and insurance firm was considering outsourcing the operation of its two ocean cruise ships. Saga said it was "exploring opportunities to optimise Saga's operational and strategic position in Cruise" and has "concluded that a partnership arrangement for Ocean Cruise would be consistent with group strategy to move to a capital-light business model".
In early economic news, consumer confidence in the UK has reached its highest level in two years as optimism for the coming 12 months strengthens, according to a long-running survey. GfK's consumer confidence index rose by three points to minus 19 this month – its best headline score since January 2022.
Confidence in personal finances gained two points and now stands at zero, ending 24 consecutive months of negative scores and "the best single indicator for how the nation's households feel about their income and expenditure", GfK said.
Superdry rose 2.3%
The clothing retailer reported on its half-year period to October 28. Over the 26 weeks, Superdry said revenue dropped 24% on-year to GBP219.8 million from GBP287.2 million. This stemmed from the "challenging" consumer retail market, unseasonal weather, and an underperformance in its Wholesale segment.
It swung to a pretax profit of GBP3.3 million from a loss of GBP17.7 million on a statutory basis, but its adjusted pretax loss widened to GBP25.3 million from GBP13.6 million. The statutory figure received a boost from the sale of its intellectual property in the Asia Pacific region, which was partially offset by a non-cash impairment of GBP10.2 million.
"Milder weather and heavy discounting across the sector impacted Christmas trading and, consistent with our December update, we expect full year results to reflect the more challenging environment seen to-date," Superdry warned.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.6%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.
US economic growth was markedly stronger than expected at the end of last year, numbers showed on Thursday, suggesting the world's largest economy was coping well with historically high interest rates. Further, inflation pressures - according to personal consumption expenditures index - eased during the fourth quarter.
The data suggests that the US economy could be on track for a so-called 'soft landing' - where inflation is managed to be brought down to target, without causing a recession.
"In summary, yesterday’s US GDP data was the definition of goldilocks in numbers: good growth, slowing inflation. A dream comes true," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
"All eyes are on the Fed's favorite gauge of inflation: core PCE – expected to have retreated to 3% in December. A number in line with expectations, or ideally softer than expected could further boost risk appetite."
Monthly PCE data for December, including the Federal Reserve's preferred core measure, are released at 1330 GMT on Friday. The next Fed decision is on Wednesday next week.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed down 1.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.8%.
China will offer more bailout loans for its struggling real-estate sector with the first funds expected to become available in the coming days, its housing ministry said Friday, in the latest move to help kickstart stuttering growth.
"In view of the current financing difficulties of some real estate projects," the official newspaper of Beijing's housing ministry quoted officials as saying, local governments would "propose a list of real estate projects that can be given financing support". "It is understood that loans will be available for the first batch of project lists before the end of the month," it added.
Financial markets in Sydney were closed for Australia Day.
Gold was quoted at USD2,021.45 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD2,015.06 on Thursday.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor
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