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London open: Stocks edge higher ahead of Haldane, Broadbent speeches
London stocks edged up in early trade as investors eyed speeches from Bank of England policymakers Andy Haldane and Ben Broadbent.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,382.15, while the pound was 0.1% firmer against the euro and the pound at 1.1313 and 1.2888, respectively, ahead of speeches from Haldane and Broadbent at 1100 BST and 1200 BST.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “In what looks like is going to be a pretty dull day, sterling may end up being the focus given that the main events are a panel appearance from Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and a speech from deputy governor Ben Broadbent.
“The former sparked a sterling surge in June after switching from dove to hawk, while the latter is yet to make his stance clear, meaning any rate hike titbits could be of great interest to the pound.”
In corporate news, Marks & Spencer was under pressure after it said like-for-like sales remained negative in the first quarter. LFL clothing and homeware sales fell 1.2% in the 13 weeks to 1 July and food sales were down 0.1%, dragging UK LFL sales to 0.5%. However, total UK sales benefitted from store openings to rise 2.6%, lifting group sales to 2.7%.
Recruitment company PageGroup edged lower despite posting record second-quarter profits while Cairn Energy was in the red despite striking oil at its latest well offshore Senegal.
On the upside, publishing house Pearson was on the front foot after announcing the sale of a 22% stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann and recapitalising the business, generating total net proceeds of about $1bn (£776m) with £300m ($386m) being returned to shareholders.
Construction company Galliford Try rallied after saying its full-year profits would be at the upper end of analysts’ forecasts of £46m to £59m.
Travel operator TUI also cruised higher has raised €244.4m (£216m) from selling off its last stake in container shipping business Hapag-Lloyd, which it will reinvest in the business.
Builders’ merchant Grafton racked up healthy gains as it reported a 9% rise in first-half revenue, while price comparison website Gocompare gained as it said it expects to report a 22% increase in first-half adjusted operating profit, driven mostly by an improvement in marketing margin.
