LONDON MARKET OPEN: GSK rises as RSV vaccine succeeds in trial

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Friday with trepidation ahead of US inflation data in the afternoon, while GSK bucked the market trend on upbeat late-stage trial results for a vaccine.

The US consumer price index is expected to show annual inflation remained steady at 8.3% in May, according to FXStreet-cited market consensus.

The FTSE 100 index was down 51.80 points, or 0.7%, at 7,424.41. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 132.68 points, or 0.7%, at 19,940.72. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.69 of a point, or 0.1%, at 964.53.

The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.8% at 739.04. The Cboe 250 was down 0.9% at 17,651.62, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.3% at 14,709.25.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5% and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.7%.

"There is little respite at present from inflationary concerns, giving investors little room for manoeuvre in navigating the darkening economic clouds," noted Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor.

In the FTSE 100, GSK was the best performer, up 2.5%, after the drugmaker unveiled positive phase three data for its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate AReSVi 006 for adults.

The RSV vaccine candidate showed statistically "significant and clinically meaningful efficacy" in adults aged 60 years and above, GSK explained.

GSK said interim analysis was reviewed by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee, and the primary endpoint was exceeded with no unexpected safety concerns observed.

At the other end of the large-caps, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust was the worst performer, down 2.5%, tracking a fall in US technology stocks which it has holdings in.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 332.04 points, or 2.8%, at 11,754.23 on Thursday in New York.

In the FTSE 250, CMC Markets was the best performer, up 5.9%, as the online financial products trading platform attempted to claw back some of Thursday's steep losses.

On Thursday, CMC shed 21% after posting a sharp drop in annual profit and slashing its dividend.

At the other end of the mid-caps, Travis Perkins was down 26% after Berenberg downgraded the builders merchant to 'hold' from 'buy'.

Elsewhere in London, ProCook Group was down 40%. The kitchenware retailer said trading has been hurt by increasingly challenging market conditions, with customers affected by "exceptional pressures" on discretionary spending.

For the fourth quarter, ended April 3, ProCook said it was trading against "exceptionally strong comparatives" from the prior year, when it benefited from pent-up demand following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and the reopening of retail stores.

The retailer said like-for-like sales have weakened across all channels, in line with the wider kitchenware market, though revenue remains "significantly higher" than the comparative pre-Covid period in 2019.

ProCook now expects to deliver adjusted pretax profit of between GBP4 million to GBP6 million for financial 2023. It didn't provide its adjusted pretax profit figure for financial 2022. In the first half of financial 2022, the six months that ended October 21 last year, underlying pretax profit was GBP3.6 million.

In Asia on Friday, stocks were mostly in the red. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.5%. The Shanghai Composite closed up 1.4%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended down 1.3%.

China's factory-gate inflation dropped to its lowest in a year in May, official data showed, while consumer prices were stable despite Covid-linked transport disruptions.

The producer price index - measuring the cost of goods at the factory gate - rose 6.4% on-year, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed, in line with analyst expectations. The pace of annual increase slowed from an 8.0% rise in April and was the slowest since April last year, according to official data.

Meanwhile, China's consumer price index rose 2.1% year-on-year in May, the same pace as last month and just below analyst expectations.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2490 early Friday, down from USD1.2536 at the London equities close Thursday.

The euro was priced at USD1.0638, down from USD1.0657. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY133.86 in London, lower against JPY134.16.

Brent oil was quoted at USD122.66 a barrel Friday morning, down from USD123.37 late Thursday. Gold stood at USD1,844.75 an ounce, up from USD1,842.36.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.