London open: Stocks rise as UK economy returns to growth

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, tacking gains in the US and Asia, as data showed the UK economy bounced back in August.

At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,660.72.

Sentiment got a boost after a China's sovereign wealth fund Central Huijin Investment bought shares in some of the country's largest banks.

On home shores, figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed the economy returned to growth in August.

GPD rose 0.2%, in line with consensus expectations, following a downwardly-revised 0.6% contraction in July. This was revised from a 0.5% fall.

The services sector grew 0.4%, but the production and construction sectors shrank 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Relief that the UK economy has returned to growth combined with expectations that central banks will hold off from fresh rate hikes have put the FTSE 100 on the front foot in early trade. But with yet another recruiter, Hays, indicating increased caution among companies to hire, sentiment is likely to stay highly sensitive."

She pointed out that the UK only just "eked out" growth, "demonstrating how the burden of high borrowing costs and the wider cost-of-living crisis is still weighing hard on consumer and company sentiment".

"The picture being painted by this numbers is of an economy only just grinding forward, with the services sector accounting for any growth while production and construction activity has fallen sharply. We still haven't felt the full effect of previous rate hikes, and so the prospects of recession are still looming on the horizon with so little respite expected on sideswiped budgets. At the very most, it appears the UK is in a period of stagflation, with the economy stagnating while inflation stays elevated."

Investors were also mulling the latest UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which showed that house prices continued to fall in September as higher interest rates and mortgage costs weighed on demand.

House prices remained on a "downward trajectory" in September with a net balance of -69%, compared to -68% a month earlier.

The net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise minus those reporting fall.

On the corporate front, and outside the FTSE 350, shares of Wagamama and Frankie and Benny's owner The Restaurant Group surged after it agreed to be bought by private equity firm Apollo in a £700m deal.

On the downside, Taylor Wimpey, Kingfisher, WPP and Tesco all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Budget airline easyJet was also in the red even as it hailed a record fourth-quarter profit amid strong demand, said it plans to resume dividend payments and announced a deal with Airbus to expand its fleet.

Mobico, Darktrace and Oxford Instruments were all down after updates and results, while Johnson Matthey was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Berenberg.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,660.72 0.53% FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,903.96 0.16% techMARK (TASX) 4,200.52 0.10%

FTSE 100 - Risers

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,823.00p 2.49% BP (BP.) 530.60p 1.98% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,109.00p 1.44% Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,121.00p 1.31% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,865.50p 1.17% Glencore (GLEN) 466.55p 1.14% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,593.00p 1.01% Entain (ENT) 956.20p 1.01% Experian (EXPN) 2,811.00p 1.01% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,064.50p 1.00%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 112.10p -3.98% Kingfisher (KGF) 208.40p -1.88% WPP (WPP) 737.80p -1.15% Barclays (BARC) 155.88p -0.83% Tesco (TSCO) 279.00p -0.75% BT Group (BT.A) 119.05p -0.46% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,786.00p -0.26% Land Securities Group (LAND) 607.80p -0.23% National Grid (NG.) 967.00p -0.17% Centrica (CNA) 156.05p -0.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers

LXI Reit (LXI) 94.65p 2.49% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 210.80p 2.43% International Distributions Services (IDS) 262.00p 2.18% Assura (AGR) 43.18p 2.13% PureTech Health (PRTC) 184.40p 1.88% 888 Holdings (DI) (888) 91.05p 1.73% HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 123.00p 1.65% JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 465.00p 1.64% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 83.70p 1.64% Petershill Partners (PHLL) 154.00p 1.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mobico Group (MCG) 69.50p -18.24% Darktrace (DARK) 369.40p -5.89% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,954.00p -4.45% easyJet (EZJ) 421.20p -3.57% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 87.55p -2.40% Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 145.00p -1.89% FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 462.00p -1.49% NCC Group (NCC) 110.40p -1.43% Supermarket Income Reit (SUPR) 75.90p -1.43% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 557.00p -1.42%