London open: Stocks flat as investors eye ADP

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Thursday following mostly weaker US and Asian sessions, as investors eyed the release of US jobs data. At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 8,272.96.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "Today, eyes are on the ADP report. A consensus of analyst estimates on Bloomberg predict that the US economy may have added 144K private jobs last month, a certain rebound from the 122K printed a month earlier.

"A data in line with expectations, or ideally stronger-than-expected, could pour some cold water on the recession worries and keep indices stable into Friday's official jobs figures. A softer-than-expected figure on the other hand will likely fuel the recession worries and could further weigh on US treasury yields, the dollar and stock indices."

In equity markets, housebuilder Vistry gained as it announced a further £130m share buyback as it posted a 7% increase in first-half pre-tax profit.

In the half year to 30 June, pre-tax profit rose to £186.2m from £174m in the same period a year earlier, with total completions up 9.1% to 7,792. Vistry hailed "good demand" across its Partner Funded markets.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread was also higher after an upgrade to 'neutral' at Redburn, while RS Group was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Citi.

On the downside, Admiral, Antofagasta, DS Smith, Aviva, Croda, IAG and Prudential were all weaker as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Associated British Foods fell as it said like‐for‐like sales at Primark were expected to fall by around 0.5% in the second half of the financial year, with a projected decline of 0.9% in the fourth quarter due to wet weather in the UK and Ireland which hit footfall and seasonal sales in womenswear and footwear.

Primark revenue growth is expected to be around 4% for the period, driven by a strong contribution from its continued store expansion programme.

Currys was in the red even as the electricals retailer posted a jump in sales for the 17 weeks to 24 August as it took a nearly 50% share of the UK laptop market.

SSP was hit by a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Morgan Stanley.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,272.96 0.04% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,817.22 0.04% techMARK (TASX) 4,894.28 0.24%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Vistry Group (VTY) 1,352.00p 2.58% Sage Group (SGE) 1,006.50p 2.04% Whitbread (WTB) 2,950.00p 1.76% Beazley (BEZ) 779.00p 1.37% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,177.00p 1.07% Burberry Group (BRBY) 629.80p 1.06% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,280.00p 1.03% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,616.00p 1.01% Airtel Africa (AAF) 111.10p 1.00% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 501.20p 0.99%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,413.00p -3.52% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,867.00p -2.18% Aviva (AV.) 489.20p -1.90% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 456.80p -1.55% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 475.20p -1.14% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,696.00p -1.08% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,462.00p -1.06% Croda International (CRDA) 3,907.00p -0.86% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 184.55p -0.86% Melrose Industries (MRO) 465.80p -0.85%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 71.00p 5.03% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 160.50p 4.22% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 307.60p 4.06% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 987.00p 3.89% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 156.30p 3.30% Keller Group (KLR) 1,680.00p 2.56% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 192.70p 2.23% RS Group (RS1) 780.50p 2.16% Pennon Group (PNN) 613.50p 1.83% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 290.00p 1.75%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 121.90p -5.50% SSP Group (SSPG) 163.50p -3.88% Rathbones Group (RAT) 1,754.00p -2.77% Savills (SVS) 1,128.00p -2.59% BBGI Global Infrastructure S.A. NPV (DI) (BBGI) 132.00p -2.51% TP Icap Group (TCAP) 233.00p -2.31% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 295.50p -1.99% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 169.60p -1.91% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,160.00p -1.71% Assura (AGR) 40.80p -1.50%