(Alliance News) – Stock prices in London opened higher on Friday, ahead of personal consumption expenditure data from the US.
“Today, the focus will be on the core PCE data — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — which may show a slight acceleration in inflation, further cementing the case for the Fed to wait before cutting rates,” Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented. “But all that looks like peanuts to retail investors, who appear to be shouldering the rally by ignoring mounting risks.
“In the best-case scenario, trade deals materialise and institutional investors — who’ve been sitting on the sidelines — join the retail crowd, pushing global equities to new highs. Or, the summer turns volatile and the failure to secure trade deals dents sentiment, triggering a downside correction.”
Fuelling some optimism, the White House said that the US and China have “agreed to an additional understanding” on trade issues, including expediting rare earth shipments. This came after Trump told an event that Washington had “just signed” a deal relating to trade with China, without providing further details.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 20.91 points, 0.2%, at 8,756.51. The FTSE 250 was up 53.68 points, 0.3%, at 21,528.34, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.36 points at 767.40.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 872.21, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 19,048.22, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 17280.90.
JD Sports Fashion led the FTSE 100 at the open, up 7.2%. Defence major Babcock International was the worst performer, losing 2.8%.
Unilever gained 0.6% after new details on its previously-announced acquisition of Dr Squatch were revealed.
Unilever will pay private equity investor Summit Partners USD1.5 billion for the male grooming products company, the Financial Times reported.
Citing “several people familiar with the details” for the amount paid by Unilever, the newspaper noted that Dr Squatch constituted another big bet on male grooming products after the company paid USD1 billion to buy Dollar Shave Club back in 2016, only to sell it again in 2023.
RHI Magnesita, which provides refractory products and services for the cement, glass and non-ferrous metals industries, led the FTSE 250, up 4.1%. Precious metal miner Hochschild led the laggers, down 2.0%.
The provider of professional growth services for small to medium enterprises announced the launch of an AI-powered Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies integration solution, Pr1bit.
The agricultural company has closed an oversubscribed fundraise, bringing in GBP2.3 million gross proceeds. This included GBP1.2 million through a placing at 0.55p per share, and GBP1.1 million through director subscriptions at the same price.
It proposes a retail offer for 54.5 million shares at 0.55p to raise GBP300,000.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.9%.
French consumer price inflation increased in June, driven by accelerating service prices and a slower rate of deceleration for energy prices, preliminary data from Insee showed.
The annual inflation rate edged up to 0.9% in June from 0.7% in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3%, reversing a 0.1% decline the previous month, flash estimates suggested.
Service inflation quickened to 2.4% year-on-year from 2.1%, according to Insee. Food inflation accelerated for a sixth month, speeding up to 1.4% year-on-year from 1.3% in May.
On a harmonised basis, which allows comparison across the eurozone, French inflation was 0.8% in June, up from 0.6% in May. The harmonised index is estimated to have risen 0.4% month-on-month, after falling 0.2% the month prior.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3741 early on Friday in London, higher compared to USD1.3733 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.1713, higher against USD1.1698. Against the yen, the dollar was trading almost flat at JPY144.45 compared to JPY144.48.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.4%.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.0%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.27%, narrowing from 4.28%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.83%, narrowing from 4.84%.
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD67.07 a barrel early in London on Friday from USD67.83 late Thursday.
Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar, before the US PCE the eurozone has consumer confidence later in the morning.
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