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London open: Stocks nudge up as investors mull Manchester attack
London stocks nudged higher in early trade as investors digested news of a suspected terror attack at a concert in Manchester on Monday evening that left 22 people dead and more than 50 injured.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,504.87, while the pound was down 0.1% versus the dollar at 1.2987 and 0.4% lower against the euro at 1.1527.
Greater Manchester Police said the explosion at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena was being treated as a terrorist incident until further information is available. General election campaigning has been suspended in light of the attack and a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee was due to take place on Tuesday morning.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “Investors are assumedly shaken by the events in Manchester yesterday evening, combined with the continued effects of the Tories’ election wobble.
“The precious few things on the UK’s economic calendar will likely keep sterling in focus. The inflation report hearings are the main event, and with the latest CPI reading hitting 2.7%, Mark Carney and co. can expect a grilling about if, when and how they are coming to combat the country’s rapidly rising prices.”
The Inflation Report hearings are at 1100 BST along with the CBI distributive trades survey, while public sector net borrowing figures are due before, at 0930 BST.
In corporate news, Severn Trent advanced as it declared another chunky dividend and said it planned an enhanced payout next time after spying further efficiencies it can make for the year ahead. In the year to end-March, it increased turnover 3.7% to £1.8bn, underlying profit before interest and tax by 4.3% to £525m and underlying earnings per share by 19.9% to 122.4p.
Budget airline easyJet flew higher after RBC Capital Markets upped the stock to ‘sector perform’, while Homeserve rallied as it posted a jump in full-year pre-tax profit and hiked its dividend for the year by 20% to 15.3p per share.
Irish food group Greencore was also in the black after it reported a rise in first-half pre-tax profit as revenue grew thanks in part to its acquisition of US food company Peacock Foods.
Electrocomponents advanced after it said full-year headline pre-tax profit rose to £128m from £76.8m the year before, on revenue of £1.51bn, up from £1.29bn.
FTSE 250 meat supplier Cranswick gained ground as it posted a jump in full-year profit, hailing year of “strong financial and strategic progress”, while Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One was higher as its full-year pre-tax profit and earnings per share beat analysts’ expectations.
