London midday: Stocks gain despite downward revision of UK GDP

30th Sep 2015 11:09

(ShareCast News) - London stocks gained as investors shrugged off a downward revision to second quarter UK gross domestic product and a report showing the Eurozone entered deflation in September.UK GDP was unexpectedly revised lower to 2.4% year-on-year from the previous estimate of 2.6%, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, it marked a considerable improvement from the 0.4% rate recorded in the previous three months."Given that the Bank of England has long questioned the official GDP data, producing their own back-casts in their Quarterly Inflation Report, today's revisions should not have a material impact on the thought process of the Monetary Policy Committee," said Cebr economist Sam Alderson."Instead, their focus will be on how the economy performs in the coming months. Given recent indicators, this is unlikely to be strong enough to encourage members to hike rates until the middle of 2016."The Eurozone's annual consumer price index fell 0.1% in September compared to a 0.1% increase in August, Eurostat's flash estimate revealed, missing analysts' expectations for zero growth."The return of inflation to negative territory in the euro-zone will heap additional pressure on the ECB to up the scale of its asset purchase programme," said Jack Allen, European economist at Capital Economics .The Eurozone's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate held steady in September compared with August at 11%, but was down from 11.5% in August last year. The figure for August was revised up a touch from 10.9%. Analysts had been expecting a rate of 10.9% for September.German unemployment rose by 2,000 in September, compared to estimates for a 5,000 drop and following the previous month's 6,000 decline. The unemployment rate remained at 6.4% this month, as expected.German retail sales fell 0.4% month-on-month compared with a sharp 1.6% rise registered in July and falling short of analysts' expectations for a 0.2% gain, the Federal Statistics Office said. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales grew 2.5% but remained short of the 3.1% consensus forecast and comfortably below the 3.8% year-on-year increase registered in the previous month.Still to come, the US private payrolls report will be released at 1315 BST and the Chicago manufacturing purchasing mangers' index at 1445 BST.The reports come as the Federal Reserve monitors economic data in determining the timing of the first interest rate increase in nine years.Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak after the close n St. Louis, potentially elaborating on her remarks that she expected the central bank will raise interest rates this year.In company news, J Sainsbury was topping the FTSE 100 after saying it expected full-year underlying pre-tax profit to be moderately ahead of its £548 forecast as it reported a 0.3% increase in second quarter retail sales, excluding fuel. The news lifted shares in Morrison Supermarkets and Tesco.Glencore also rallied after saying it has taken proactive steps to position the mining company to withstand current market conditions including weak commodity prices. The group's stocks plunged on Monday after Investec highlighted debt concerns and said there was little equity value for shareholders.Aviva was given a boost after Charles Stanley upgraded the stock to 'accumulate' from 'hold'.Entertainment One slumped on news it is looking to take a 70% stake in creator and producer Astley Baker Davies Limited, the company that produces the Peppa Pig show, for £140m. The company already holds joint ownership rights for Britain's favourite pig with ABD, and will fund the acquisition through a four-for-nine rights issue raising £193.6m - the extra cash is to pay off debt. N+1 Singer recommended a 'sell' rating on the shares, saying that the proposal looks like a "rescue rights" and and questions whether there is a hole in the balance sheet. Market MoverstechMARK 2,999.36 +1.36%FTSE 100 6,033.61 +2.10%FTSE 250 16,643.45 +1.22% FTSE 100 - RisersSainsbury (J) (SBRY) 260.00p +13.39%Glencore (GLEN) 88.60p +10.40%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 167.10p +7.05%Aviva (AV.) 452.40p +5.60%Tesco (TSCO) 180.70p +5.49%Prudential (PRU) 1,384.50p +4.06%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 238.80p +3.65%Old Mutual (OML) 188.70p +3.62%Carnival (CCL) 3,429.00p +3.53%GKN (GKN) 264.50p +3.52% FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 593.50p -0.50%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,223.00p -0.45% FTSE 250 - RisersKaz Minerals (KAZ) 81.60p +12.24%Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 488.80p +6.66%Victrex plc (VCT) 1,749.00p +5.23%Premier Oil (PMO) 67.10p +4.60%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 88.65p +4.23%Tullow Oil (TLW) 172.90p +3.78%Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,031.00p +3.62%Croda International (CRDA) 2,745.00p +3.35%Provident Financial (PFG) 3,152.00p +3.07%esure Group (ESUR) 248.10p +2.95% FTSE 250 - FallersEntertainment One Limited (ETO) 248.00p -8.82%Acacia Mining (ACA) 243.50p -1.70%Computacenter (CCC) 747.50p -0.93%BBA Aviation (BBA) 272.80p -0.80%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 933.50p -0.74%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 223.20p -0.71%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 720.00p -0.69%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 61.50p -0.49%UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 503.50p -0.40%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 394.00p -0.33% FTSE TechMARK - RisersTorotrak (TRK) 7.00p +3.40%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,620.00p +2.27%Dialight (DIA) 634.50p +1.93%Skyepharma (SKP) 354.00p +1.58%Spirent Communications (SPT) 74.75p +1.01%SDL (SDL) 324.50p +0.93%KCOM Group (KCOM) 88.25p +0.57%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 7.95p +0.51%NCC Group (NCC) 274.00p +0.46%E2V Technologies (E2V) 228.00p +0.33% FTSE TechMARK - FallersRM (RM.) 162.00p -3.57%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 575.00p -2.54%Triad Group (TRD) 31.25p -2.34%Filtronic (FTC) 6.62p -1.85%Innovation Group (TIG) 38.75p -0.64%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 202.53 -0.01%