London open: Miners pace the decline as China GDP disappoints

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Monday, with miners under the cosh after disappointing Chinese growth figures. At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,423.66.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 has relinquished some of the gains it accumulated last week on weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data. China's GDP rose 6.3%, which was higher than last quarter but some way below expectations.

"The sheer scale of China's economy means a perceived stalling in the post-pandemic recovery has ramifications for global demand and economies. There's also little news to distract the market from looming UK inflation data later this week, with the UK poised to assess the latest reading and what this will mean for the interest rate trajectory."

On home shores, a survey out earlier showed that house prices ticked lower in July as higher borrowing costs hit home.

According to the latest Rightmove house price index, house prices dipped 0.2% in July, compared to 0.0% growth in June.

The national average asking price is now £371,907, around 0.5% higher than July 2022 and the lowest annual growth since November 2019.

Rightmove said new sellers were tempering price expectations in response to rising mortgage costs and increasing buyer affordability constraints. The number of agreed sales is now 12% down on July 2019.

However, buyer demand remained resilient, Rightmove noted, up 3% on 2019. Surveyed agents said right-priced homes were still attracting buyers due to historical supply constraints.

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: "The interest-rate brakes being applied more strongly to slow the economy are now beginning to bite in the housing market.

"While prices and sales bounced back this year much more strongly than most expected, the unexpectedly stubborn inflation figures and the surprise of further mortgage rate rises, when many felt they had stablished, have contributed to the fall in prices and number of sales agreed.

"However, buyer remains resilient."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted mining stocks were the worst performers on the back of the Chinese data, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all down.

Gambling firm Entain slipped after saying it had bought Angstrom Sports for £81m plus contingent payments up to a maximum of £122m. US-based Angstrom is a specialist provider of next generation sports modelling, forecasting and data analytics.

On the upside, Johnson Matthey jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Deutsche Bank.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,423.66 -0.15% FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,517.42 -0.27% techMARK (TASX) 4,379.66 -0.19%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,777.00p 1.31% Vodafone Group (VOD) 73.02p 1.14% United Utilities Group (UU.) 958.60p 0.80% Unilever (ULVR) 4,021.50p 0.73% Aviva (AV.) 388.60p 0.67% Barclays (BARC) 155.98p 0.57% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 44.61p 0.56% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,537.50p 0.53% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,766.00p 0.51% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 244.20p 0.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,349.00p -3.41% Ocado Group (OCDO) 575.80p -3.13% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 823.20p -1.95% Anglo American (AAL) 2,303.50p -1.94% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,509.50p -1.79% Glencore (GLEN) 458.95p -1.68% Unite Group (UTG) 916.50p -1.50% Halma (HLMA) 2,215.00p -1.29% Fresnillo (FRES) 620.80p -1.21% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,151.00p -1.17%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Petershill Partners (PHLL) 170.00p 3.66% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 325.00p 2.27% Victrex plc (VCT) 1,528.00p 2.00% Twentyfour Income Fund Limited Ord Red (TFIF) 97.00p 1.78% 3i Infrastructure (3IN) 315.00p 1.78% Molten Ventures (GROW) 257.80p 1.66% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 145.20p 1.54% Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 168.45p 1.51% Capita (CPI) 29.20p 1.32% Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 647.50p 1.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

IP Group (IPO) 55.00p -3.85% Currys (CURY) 52.10p -1.88% Playtech (PTEC) 571.00p -1.81% Mobico Group (MCG) 98.10p -1.70% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 10,920.00p -1.62% Assura (AGR) 45.82p -1.59% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 206.00p -1.44% Warehouse Reit (WHR) 83.10p -1.42% Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 2,210.00p -1.34% Rotork (ROR) 303.40p -1.30%