London stocks edged lower in early trade on Friday, with AstraZeneca under the cosh after results, as investors eyed a number of data releases across the pond.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,356.61.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “Inflation is front of mind for investors this week after the US CPI report, which has driven a sharp rally in gold and the US dollar.
“Today’s University of Michigan inflation expectations will be closely watched, although it is unlikely to drive any material shift in the post-CPI momentum. Expectations are forecast to rise to 5% from 4.8% last month. We’re also watching the UoM consumer sentiment data and JOLTS job openings – a marker for the health of the US labour market, although these days not such a great signal due to the massive mis-matches and dislocation in the market post-pandemic.”
In equity markets, AstraZeneca fell after its quarterly profit missed expectations but the company said it would start making a profit from its Covid vaccine from the fourth quarter onwards.
IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: “AstraZeneca has seen little enthusiasm for their plan to shift into a strategy of ‘modest profitability’ for their vaccine product, with the company hoping to strike new deals at a more advantageous price.
“Coming off the back of a nine-month period that brought $2.2 billion of vaccine sales, shareholders are clearly looking for the firm to boost the earnings outlook after EPS fell short of expectations.”
Wood Group slumped after cutting its full-year guidance, while software group Aveva was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ at Jefferies.
On the upside, Burberry and Johnson Matthey rose, having fallen sharply a day earlier on the back of updates.
Housebuilder Redrow was also on the rise after saying it expects 2022 results to be similar to those achieved in 2019.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,356.61 -0.37%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,574.62 0.00%
techMARK (TASX) 4,621.32 -0.44%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,947.00p 4.59%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 172.75p 2.04%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,795.50p 1.90%
Rightmove (RMV) 722.60p 1.89%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,272.00p 1.61%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,477.50p 1.51%
Schroders (SDR) 3,764.00p 1.46%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 711.80p 1.40%
ITV (ITV) 125.10p 1.34%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,796.00p 1.12%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,074.00p -3.92%
Darktrace (DARK) 586.50p -3.69%
Entain (ENT) 1,964.50p -2.99%
Evraz (EVR) 618.80p -2.34%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,476.00p -2.19%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,323.00p -1.83%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,216.00p -1.83%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,010.00p -1.80%
Fresnillo (FRES) 968.60p -1.63%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,640.00p -1.49%
FTSE 250 – Risers
JTC (JTC) 853.00p 7.70%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 160.80p 6.49%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 134.30p 3.95%
Volution Group (FAN) 515.00p 3.10%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 239.50p 3.01%
Mitie Group (MTO) 71.10p 2.89%
Tyman (TYMN) 402.50p 2.68%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,205.00p 2.56%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 395.20p 2.28%
Redrow (RDW) 641.00p 2.14%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Molten Ventures (GROW) 956.00p -7.00%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 190.00p -5.47%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 2,010.00p -3.55%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,210.00p -3.35%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 165.40p -3.16%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 23.48p -3.14%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 63.20p -2.59%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,050.00p -2.38%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 539.00p -2.36%
AO World (AO.) 127.50p -2.30%
