London open: Stocks edge up in quiet trade

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged up quiet trade early on Friday, with little in the way of market-moving news to provide any direction. At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,259.89.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "After an ugly start to September, historically a poor month for equity returns, global stock markets are broadly back to where they ended last month. There's not been any major catalyst for this rebound, more so a lack of negative surprises on the inflation front. That trend continued yesterday with US producer price rises up 1.7% in the year to August against expectations of 1.8%.

"That helped the S&P 500 to end the day up fractionally, with the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite faring a bit better adding 0.5%, in a third consecutive day of gains. Over the week, all major US indices are in positive territory.

"However, the data may not be enough to persuade the Fed to cut rates by any more than a quarter-point next Wednesday, in what's expected to be the first reduction in the Federal Funds Rate in over four years."

There are no UK data releases of note due but in the US, investors will eye the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment survey for September at 1500 BST. Before that, eurozone industrial production data for July is due at 1000 BST.

In equity markets, Fresnillo and Endeavour shone as gold prices reached new record highs of over $2,500 per ounce.

Nathan said: "The glittering performance has been buoyed by sustained high levels of purchases by central banks in the face of a weakening dollar, geopolitical uncertainty and the downward looking trajectory for interest rates. These conditions could persist for a while so there's potential for the high-water mark to rise further in the coming months."

Vodafone was in the black despite the Competition and Markets Authority saying that its planned merger with Three may be expected to result in a "substantial" lessening of competition and higher prices for consumers.

The competition watchdog cited the supply of mobile telecommunications services to end customers and the supply of wholesale as two areas of concern.

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment fell as it announced the acquisition of a a 56% stake in NSX Group, a Brazilian operator of the Betnacional brand, for around $350m.

Flutter said the deal fully aligns with its strategy to invest in leadership positions in international markets, "securing a podium position for Flutter on completion in the regulating and fast-growing Brazilian market".

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty edged up after it was awarded a £363m contract by National Grid to deliver the Bramford to Twinstead Reinforcement project.

In broker note action, AstraZeneca was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' at Deutsche Bank.

Rio Tinto ticked higher after an upgrade to 'outperform' at Macquarie.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,259.89 0.23% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,789.51 0.45% techMARK (TASX) 4,885.01 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 552.00p 2.70% Burberry Group (BRBY) 597.00p 2.16% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 379.10p 1.91% Entain (ENT) 726.80p 1.76% Airtel Africa (AAF) 117.60p 1.64% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,282.00p 1.51% Experian (EXPN) 3,811.00p 1.46% M&G (MNG) 206.30p 1.18% Mondi (MNDI) 1,422.00p 1.17% Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 577.50p 1.14%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 288.40p -2.50% AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,864.00p -1.54% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 347.80p -1.14% Tesco (TSCO) 366.70p -0.62% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 490.90p -0.59% Rightmove (RMV) 664.20p -0.48% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,765.00p -0.45% Darktrace (DARK) 585.00p -0.41% GSK (GSK) 1,632.50p -0.37% easyJet (EZJ) 489.50p -0.33%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 2,880.00p 900.00% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 880.00p 4.51% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 384.80p 3.33% Travis Perkins (TPK) 894.50p 2.35% Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,232.00p 2.33% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,697.00p 2.17% Indivior (INDV) 741.50p 2.06% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 138.60p 2.06% Spectris (SXS) 2,862.00p 2.00% Keller Group (KLR) 1,630.00p 1.88%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Senior (SNR) 157.00p -4.38% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,706.00p -2.51% JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 104.60p -1.32% Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 375.00p -1.19% FirstGroup (FGP) 153.00p -0.78% Asia Dragon Trust (DGN) 390.00p -0.76% Carnival (CCL) 1,158.00p -0.73% Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 519.00p -0.57% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 882.00p -0.56% Pantheon International (PIN) 310.50p -0.48%