London stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday, taking their cue from a record close on Wall Street after the latest US inflation reading raised hopes of a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
At 0820 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 9,175.21.
Danske Bank noted that US July consumer price inflation landed close to expectations on both headline and core terms.
“Surprisingly, the modest uptick in core inflation was mostly driven by services. This would typically be seen as a sign of sticky inflation and hence interpreted as a hawkish signal. However, the fact that core goods and food inflation remained stable at still modest levels alleviated markets’ concerns of rapid pass through of tariff-related costs,” it said.
“While we do expect core goods inflation to pick up speed towards fall, the reading supports the case for the Fed’s September rate cut.”
Adding to the upbeat mood were comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said in an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday that the Fed should be open to a 50 basis point rate cut next month.
In equity markets, construction and infrastructure products group Hill & Smith surged as it announced a £100m share buyback programme after reporting strong cash generation and a double-digit increase in underlying profits in the first half.
Genuit – formerly Polypipe – rallied as RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’, saying the company was geared for growth.
“While we expect more of the same from underlying markets through year-end 2025E, 2026E should progressively improve with positive impacts from key regulatory drivers – the AMP8 program, the Future Homes/Buildings Standard, and the UK government new homes target,” RBC said.
On the downside, housebuilder Persimmon fell after saying it still expects to deliver between 11,000 and 11,500 completions for the full year despite challenging market conditions and the prospect of tax rises in October’s Budget.
Specialist insurer Beazley was under the cosh as it posted a drop in first-half profit and cut its full-year premium growth guidance.
Outside the FTSE 350, discount shoe retailer Shoe Zone tumbled after halving its full-year profit guidance.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,175.21 0.30%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,898.59 0.26%
techMARK (TASX) 5,250.02 0.47%
FTSE 100 – Risers
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,316.00p 1.51%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,754.00p 1.50%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,206.00p 1.08%
Spirax Group (SPX) 6,910.00p 0.95%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 229.00p 0.88%
GSK (GSK) 1,416.50p 0.85%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,099.50p 0.83%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 982.00p 0.82%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,749.00p 0.81%
easyJet (EZJ) 511.00p 0.79%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Persimmon (PSN) 1,113.50p -1.94%
Kingfisher (KGF) 271.60p -1.20%
Diageo (DGE) 2,044.00p -0.87%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 379.60p -0.73%
BP (BP.) 421.10p -0.70%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 258.50p -0.58%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,309.00p -0.38%
Shell (SHEL) 2,666.00p -0.37%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 372.30p -0.35%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 297.40p -0.34%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,140.00p 8.74%
Genuit Group (GEN) 384.50p 4.06%
Quilter (QLT) 168.90p 3.62%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 130.40p 2.03%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,270.00p 2.02%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,360.00p 1.97%
Inchcape (INCH) 673.00p 1.97%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 291.00p 1.57%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,454.00p 1.39%
Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 555.00p 1.28%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 645.00p -3.01%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 333.40p -2.63%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 351.20p -1.79%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 329.00p -1.50%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 173.00p -1.48%
Henderson Smaller Companies Inv Trust (HSL) 875.00p -0.91%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 119.20p -0.83%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 178.80p -0.83%
Energean (ENOG) 917.50p -0.76%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,838.00p -0.76%