London open: Stocks rise as Powell comments soothe nerves

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday as investors welcomed less hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
At 0850 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,542.01.

In a testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Powell offered reassurances that the US central bank could trigger rate hikes to rein in inflation without harming the economic recovery

Marc Kimsey, equity trader at Frederick & Oliver, said: "We're seeing strong demand for UK-listed oil and base metal stocks this morning after comments from Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, and cooler-than-expected Chinese inflation data, calmed interest rate concerns."

Looking ahead to the rest of the day, investors will be eyeing the latest US inflation figures at 1330 GMT. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "With a March rate hike now almost a done deal, today's US CPI is likely to be a key signpost in the wider discussion, on how many more hikes are coming down the pipe, as central banks wrestle with a dilemma of rising price pressures, the risks of an economic slowdown caused by tighter restrictions, and a decline in consumer confidence.

"In November US CPI hit a 39 year high of 6.8%, a trend which looks set to continue with today's December number, given that PPI is already close to 10%.

"PPI, which is due tomorrow, has tended to be a leading indicator for CPI over the last 12 months, and while we did see a pause in headline CPI through the summer months, stabilising at 5.4%, we've seen a sharp acceleration since October.

"The various restrictions that were imposed through much of Q4 have shown no signs of slowing when it comes to supply chain disruptions, along with sharp increases in energy prices."

In UK equity markets, miners were the standout gainers as metals prices rose, with BHP, Antofagasta, Rio, Glencore and Anglo American all higher.

Sainsbury's was in the black after the supermarket group raised full-year profit forecasts despite a fall in underlying sales over Christmas.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread rallied as it hailed a resilient third-quarter performance in the UK despite the emergence of the Omicron variant, but said trading in pubs and restaurants remained more challenging.

Dunelm rallied as the homewares retailer upped annual profit guidance after a record performance in the 13 weeks to Christmas, driven by online sales and higher margins.

Savills pushed higher after saying its full-year performance was "very significantly" ahead of expectations following an "extraordinarily strong" final trading period since its last update in November.

Grafton gained as the building materials distributor and DIY retailer upgraded its full-year operating profit expectations after a positive end to the year.

On the downside, JD Sports fell even as it lifted annual profits guidance after revenues rose 10% in the 22 weeks to January 1 and US fiscal stimulus boosted trading.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,542.01 0.68%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,170.27 0.62%
techMARK (TASX) 4,507.38 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BHP Group (BHP) 2,356.50p 3.65%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,383.50p 3.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,442.00p 2.66%
Glencore (GLEN) 397.80p 2.58%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,317.50p 2.42%
Evraz (EVR) 611.80p 2.38%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 285.20p 2.11%
BP (BP.) 376.85p 1.96%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,257.00p 1.81%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,216.00p 1.67%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,178.00p -1.01%
Croda International (CRDA) 8,864.00p -0.87%
BT Group (BT.A) 175.65p -0.85%
Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 679.20p -0.85%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 168.55p -0.82%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 704.20p -0.68%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,195.00p -0.53%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,506.00p -0.47%
Pearson (PSON) 596.20p -0.47%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,838.00p -0.42%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,436.00p 7.16%
Darktrace (DARK) 444.00p 5.21%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 201.40p 4.08%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,675.00p 3.97%
Savills (SVS) 1,368.00p 3.64%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 8,995.00p 3.45%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 225.00p 3.21%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 287.20p 3.01%
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 1,215.00p 2.79%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 311.20p 2.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 249.80p -3.78%
Greggs (GRG) 2,833.00p -2.31%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 1,074.00p -1.65%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,113.00p -1.07%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,888.00p -0.84%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 3,700.00p -0.80%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 422.00p -0.80%
Centrica (CNA) 73.90p -0.73%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,385.00p -0.63%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 39.75p -0.60%