London open: Stocks fall as investors eye eurozone inflation data

2nd Sep 2025 07:55

(Sharecast News) - London stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday, as investors eyed the latest eurozone inflation reading.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 9,159.19.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The lack of a lead from Wall Street left the remainder of global markets struggling to make much headway.

"The FTSE 100 drifted lower after a mixed but largely unremarkable session in Asian markets overnight. British American Tobacco slipped after a broker downgrade which read across to Imperial Brands, while the housebuilders eased for similar reasons.

"Berkeley Group will be the latest to report on Friday, where mortgage availability and affordability will be scrutinised, along with the strength or otherwise of its forward order book and current demand."

Looking ahead to the rest of the day, investors will turn their attention to the latest eurozone inflation data for August, due at 1000 BST.

Danske Bank said: "Following lower-than-expected inflation in France, Spain, Italy, we project euro area HICP inflation to come in at 2.0% y/y, below the expected 2.1% y/y, despite an upside surprise in Germany.

"For the European Central Bank, we anticipate that the August inflation print will not alter their assessment of inflation, and we continue to expect the deposit rate to remain unchanged at 2% through the rest of the year and in 2026."

In equity markets, British Gas owner Centrica fell even as it said two UK nuclear power stations in which it has a 20% share had been given life extensions of a year. Heysham 1 and Hartlepool are now expected to generate electricity until March 2028, one year later than previously expected.

British American Tobacco was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'underperform' from 'sector perform' at RBC Capital Markets, which said profit expectations for the company's New Categories "are seriously overblown".

Ithaca Energy tumbled after major shareholders Delek and Eni sold just over 49.6m shares in the company in a placing.

Games developer Everplay Group rose as it said that full-year adjusted underlying earnings were expected to be slightly ahead of current market expectations, despite reporting a decline in interim revenues.

Harbour Energy was boosted by an initiation at 'overweight' by JPMorgan. It said the stock was underpinned by "scale-driven cost reductions, free cash flow resiliency, and a strong balance sheet" which "leaves runway for an additional buyback program in 2026".

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Bank of America, with Barratt Redrow, Persimmon and Berkeley also lower.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,159.19 -0.40%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,556.04 -0.36%

techMARK (TASX) 5,395.57 -0.25%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Shell (SHEL) 2,734.00p 0.63%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,218.00p 0.56%

ICG (ICG) 2,194.00p 0.55%

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,834.00p 0.49%

BP (BP.) 433.15p 0.49%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,436.00p 0.48%

Beazley (BEZ) 781.00p 0.45%

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,450.00p 0.38%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 22,340.00p 0.27%

Admiral Group (ADM) 3,612.00p 0.22%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,066.00p -2.17%

SSE (SSE) 1,642.50p -2.03%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 337.40p -2.00%

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 94.16p -1.94%

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 353.50p -1.70%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 543.50p -1.54%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,058.00p -1.44%

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 510.20p -1.32%

3i Group (III) 3,911.00p -1.29%

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,558.00p -1.28%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Rank Group (RNK) 140.00p 3.09%

Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 240.00p 2.78%

Harbour Energy (HBR) 232.40p 2.65%

Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 80.50p 2.29%

Harworth Group (HWG) 178.00p 1.71%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 304.80p 1.60%

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 324.20p 1.06%

Smithson Investment Trust (SSON) 1,510.00p 0.94%

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,455.00p 0.88%

Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 678.00p 0.74%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 206.50p -13.05%

Bellway (BWY) 2,294.00p -2.05%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 233.60p -2.01%

AO World (AO.) 84.30p -1.98%

Vistry Group (VTY) 608.60p -1.58%

Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 495.50p -1.49%

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 122.40p -1.45%

British Land Company (BLND) 329.00p -1.44%

WH Smith (SMWH) 676.50p -1.38%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 182.80p -1.35%