London midday: Stocks dip ahead of US inflation reading

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had fallen into the red by lunchtime on Thursday, as investors awaited crucial US inflation data, which could influence the Federal Reserve's next policy moves.

At midday, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.26% at 8,222.18 points, while the FTSE 250 lost 0.41% to 20,736.66.

In currency markets, sterling was last up 0.02% on the dollar to trade at $1.3074, while it managed gains of 0.03% against the euro, changing hands at €1.1953.

"European stocks are mixed early on Tuesday after a pretty choppy session in Asia turned more positive with investors squarely focussed on this Saturday finance ministry announcement," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Finalto.

"Oil and copper have stabilised a bit after a couple of sharp moves down at the start of the week on China weakness.

"The dollar remains well bid with the yen offered."

Looking across the Atlantic, Wilson said the chances of no rate cut from the US Federal Reserve next month were up to about 15% ahead CPI inflation due at 1330 BST, with further disinflation expected.

"The monthly core reading is seen rising 0.2% from August.

"Core will remain quite sticky annually above 3%, whilst the headline is seen down to 2.3% from 2.5%."

UK house prices rise in September, German retail sales grow

In economic news, UK house prices rose for the first time in two years thanks to falling interest rates, according to fresh survey data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

In September, the house prices net balance reached 16, the first positive reading since October 2022, and a significant improvement from August's revised figure of 0.

The net balance represented the percentage of survey respondents reporting price increases minus those reporting declines.

Despite the rise in prices, buyer demand remained relatively stable, with only a slight dip in the demand balance from 15 to 14.

New property listings, however, surged, rising from 9 in August to 22 in September, reflecting growing seller confidence.

Looking ahead, market sentiment remained optimistic, with a balance of 23 expecting sales growth over the next three months and an even more positive outlook for the next year, with a 12-month outlook balance of 45.

RICS attributed the renewed optimism to the Bank of England's recent interest rate cut in August, which reduced borrowing costs to 5%, and the expectation of further reductions in the near future.

"The latest survey results convey a brighter picture for housing market activity," said Tarrant Parson, head of market analytics at RICS.

"Critical for the outlook, a further unwinding in monetary policy is anticipated over the months ahead, which should create a more favourable backdrop for the market moving forward."

In Germany, retail sales saw solid growth in the past two months, with Destatis reporting a 1.6% rise in sales volumes in August, following a 1.5% increase in July.

That represented the highest rate of growth since March, when sales increased by 2.6%.

The figures were released alongside revised data for June, which showed a 1.1% decline, after a delay in economic reporting due to a data update failure at the Wiesbaden-based office earlier in the year.

GSK surges on Zantac settlements, ex-dividends prove a drag

On London's equity markets, shares in GSK surged after the pharmaceuticals company announced a $2.2bn settlement to resolve approximately 80,000 Zantac lawsuits in the US.

The company revealed that it had reached agreements with 10 firms, representing 93% of the state court product liability cases related to the drug.

Additionally, GSK agreed to pay $70m to resolve a whistleblower complaint filed by Valisure, which alleged that the firm had concealed the cancer risks of Zantac.

Elsewhere, Tritax EuroBox rallied following news that Brookfield, a Canadian investment firm, had outbid Segro with a £557m offer to acquire the warehouse owner.

Brookfield's bid of 69p per share represented a 6% increase on Segro's prior offer of 65.1p.

On the downside, Volution Group shares fell despite reporting a 6.1% increase in full-year revenue and an 8.7% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher, Tesco, Taylor Wimpey, and WPP all saw their shares decline as they traded without entitlement to dividends.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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