London open: Stocks gain as investors eye Powell speech

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, taking their cue from a positive session on Wall Street, as investors eyed a speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

At 0925 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,305.44.

Powell is due to make a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday, at the Fed's annual conference of central bankers.

Philip Marey, senior US strategist at Rabobank said Powell is likely to signal a 25 basis points rate cut for September.

Marey said that with a full round of data between Jackson Hole and the September FOMC meeting, "it would be premature" for Powell to signal the exact size of a rate cut.

"However, he could indicate whether the baseline is 25 or 50 basis points. By expressing confidence in market stability and by indicating that the Fed is not behind the curve, he could indicate that 25 bps is the baseline scenario for September, rather than the 50 bps that some in the market want."

In equity markets, sports apparel and footwear retailer JD Sports Fashion jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after saying it saw a return to like-for-like growth in its second quarter, with its store rollout programme in North America and Europe providing a boost while the UK market remains subdued.

LFL sales were 2.4% higher than last year in the three months to 3 August, following a 0.7% year-on-year decline in the first quarter. The company maintained its profit guidance for the full year but said it "continues to be cautious on our outlook".

Serco nudged up after it was awarded a $320m contract by the US Army Corps of Engineers to modernise the backup electrical plant at the US Space Force's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.

On the downside, Hays slumped after the recruiter posted a decline in full-year profit as it highlighted "a clear slowdown" in challenging markets.

In the year to the end of June, pre-tax profit slid 92% to £14.7m, while operating profit was down 46% to £105.1m. Net fees fell 12% to £1.1.bn.

Legal & General, Mondi, Schroders, Land Securities, Imperial Brands, Convatec, Just Group, Hammerson and Investec all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,305.44 0.27% FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,173.32 -0.07% techMARK (TASX) 4,881.97 0.27%

FTSE 100 - Risers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 132.00p 3.00% United Utilities Group (UU.) 989.00p 1.62% Unilever (ULVR) 4,803.00p 1.48% Burberry Group (BRBY) 705.00p 1.38% Tesco (TSCO) 344.30p 1.32% Standard Chartered (STAN) 754.00p 1.26% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,100.00p 1.19% Entain (ENT) 647.40p 1.12% AstraZeneca (AZN) 13,134.00p 1.03% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,349.00p 1.03%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 226.70p -1.86% Mondi (MNDI) 1,451.00p -1.49% Schroders (SDR) 342.20p -1.27% Glencore (GLEN) 409.05p -1.03% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,132.00p -0.79% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,798.50p -0.77% Land Securities Group (LAND) 630.50p -0.71% Shell (SHEL) 2,701.00p -0.64% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,598.00p -0.61% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 5,190.00p -0.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 4,250.00p 4.17% Me Group International (MEGP) 198.80p 2.37% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 674.00p 1.97% Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 530.00p 1.92% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,296.00p 1.73% The European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT) 180.20p 1.46% Derwent London (DLN) 2,358.00p 1.38% SSP Group (SSPG) 175.50p 1.27% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,670.00p 1.24% Pennon Group (PNN) 598.00p 1.18%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Senior (SNR) 162.00p -3.11% OSB Group (OSB) 388.60p -2.85% Hammerson (HMSO) 27.52p -2.69% Investec (INVP) 571.50p -2.56% XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 313.00p -2.19% Just Group (JUST) 148.20p -1.98% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 128.70p -1.76% Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 2,970.00p -1.66% HGCapital Trust (HGT) 536.00p -1.65% Jlen Environmental Assets Group Limited NPV (JLEN) 92.40p -1.60%