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London open: Stocks rise ahead of jobs data; Ted Baker tumbles on profit warning
London stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday as investors eyed the release of the latest UK jobs data, but fashion retailer Ted Baker bucked the trend after a profit warning.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,402.65, while the pound was flat against the dollar at 1.2684 and 0.1% lower versus the euro at 1.1198.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “Equities are continuing their remarkable relief rally as investors put trade war concerns to one side and double down on bets the Fed will ride the rescue. But we caution not to rely on either playing out precisely how the bulls would like.
“Firstly, Mexico has a sword of Damocles hanging over them – Secretary of State Pompeo stressed yesterday that tariffs would be imposed if there is not enough progress on immigration.
“Two, the China spectre remains. Donald Trump has reiterated the threat to impose tariffs on an additional $300bn in Chinese goods. The market’s going to remain sensitive to trade news flow for some time particularly as we head into the G20 – Trump saying that if China refuses a meet then he will go ahead with the tariffs. We’d assume there will be a meeting but cordial it may not be.
“Three, the Fed may not cut rates this year at all – despite what the market is saying.”
On home shores, investors will be watching out for the latest jobs data, with the claimant count, average earnings and the ILO unemployment rate all due at 0930 BST.
“Having seen manufacturing activity fall sharply in April there is a concern that wage growth could start to go the same way as the economy slows,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael hewson.
In equity markets, miners were the standout gainers, with Rio Tinto, Glencore, Antofagasta and BHP all up amid rising copper and iron ore prices.
Safety, health and environment technology company Halma was in the green as it posted record full-year results thanks to strong growth across all four of its sectors.
Over-50s specialist Saga rallied after announcing a savings partnership with Goldman Sachs’ savings arm, Marcus, while Compass Group edged up as it agreed to buy Nordic food catering business Fazer Food Services for around €475m.
Smith & Nephew ticked a little higher after saying it was buying Switzerland’s Atracsys, a provider of optical tracking technology used in computer-assisted surgery, for an undisclosed sum.
Sainsbury’s nudged up as it appointed former RBS executive Jim Brown as chief executive officer of its banking unit.
Crest Nicholson was trading a smidgen higher even as it posted an 11% drop in half-year pre-tax profit, as it said it entered the second half of the year with “encouraging” forward sales and a growing outlet base.
On the downside, Ted Baker shares tanked after the fashion retailer warned on profits amid “extremely difficult trading conditions”. The company said pre-tax profit for the year to 25 January 2020 are now expected to come in between £50m and £60m versus consensus of around £70m.
Bellway slipped even as the housebuilder said full-year earnings growth would be in line with expectations, adding that costs were under control, helping to ease gross margin pressures.
