London open: Stocks edge up as investors mull borrowing figures

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged up in early trade on Tuesday after a mostly firmer session on Wall Street, as investors digested the latest UK borrowing figures. At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,271.83.

Data released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that public sector net borrowing rose less than expected in July, to £4.3bn. This was up by £3.4bn on July 2022, but below the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast of £6bn and consensus expectations of £5bn.

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "July's public finances figures continued the recent run of better-than-expected news on the fiscal position.

"But with interest rates still rising and a mild recession on its way, we continue to think the Chancellor will struggle to unveil a large package of permanent tax cuts in the Autumn Statement while still adhering to his fiscal rules."

In equity markets, RS Group - formerly Electrocomponents - was the top gainer on the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'outperform' at BNPP Exane. Recruiter Hays also got a boost from the same upgrade.

Engineering and consultancy company Wood Group rallied after it posted better-than-expected adjusted interim earnings, driven by a strong order book, and said annual profit would be ahead of forecasts.

Revenue rose 16% to $3bn for the six months to June 30 with adjusted core earnings up 8.5% to $202m.

Looking forward, Wood said adjusted core earnings margin was expected to be flat in the nearer term at around 7%, partly reflecting investments being made in the business and the level of low margin pass-through revenue activity

"As such, adjusted EBITDA for full-year 2023 is expected to be ahead of our previous expectations and within our medium-term target of mid to high single digit growth," the company said.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,271.83 0.19% FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,989.83 0.51% techMARK (TASX) 4,204.34 0.49%

FTSE 100 - Risers

RS Group (RS1) 717.60p 2.46% Ocado Group (OCDO) 745.60p 1.53% IMI (IMI) 1,494.00p 1.49% Anglo American (AAL) 1,994.40p 1.24% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,467.00p 1.15% Entain (ENT) 1,174.00p 1.08% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 596.60p 1.02% St James's Place (STJ) 861.60p 0.87% Glencore (GLEN) 423.60p 0.86% Beazley (BEZ) 542.00p 0.84%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,930.00p -1.08% F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 830.00p -0.48% Unilever (ULVR) 3,955.00p -0.35% BP (BP.) 476.90p -0.29% GSK (GSK) 1,343.80p -0.27% Kingfisher (KGF) 226.00p -0.26% Unite Group (UTG) 885.00p -0.23% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,513.50p -0.22% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,747.00p -0.17% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,656.00p -0.17%

FTSE 250 - Risers

AJ Bell (AJB) 289.20p 4.48% Hays (HAS) 102.90p 4.20% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 205.00p 3.85% Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 68.80p 3.46% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 153.00p 3.31% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 2,875.00p 3.05% Diploma (DPLM) 3,162.00p 2.86% Ascential (ASCL) 204.60p 2.76% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 484.50p 2.54% Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 121.20p 2.54%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 122.00p -2.40% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 119.80p -2.28% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 173.40p -2.03% Hill and Smith (HILS) 1,714.00p -1.72% Victrex plc (VCT) 1,384.00p -1.56% Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,518.00p -1.43% Capita (CPI) 18.56p -1.38% Currys (CURY) 48.32p -1.27% Essentra (ESNT) 145.20p -1.22% Pantheon International (PIN) 270.50p -0.92%