(Alliance News) – Stock prices in London opened mostly higher on Thursday, while the Office for National Statistics has admitted that the UK’s April inflation figure was too high.
The UK’s headline inflation figure was 0.1 percentage points too high for April due to an error in the vehicle tax data collected, the ONS said.
Official data published last month showed Consumer Prices Index, CPI, inflation rose to 3.5% in April. But the ONS said on Thursday that it has since spotted an error in the vehicle excise duty data provided to the ONS by the Department for Transport, which is part of the information used to calculate inflation.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 7.06 points, 0.1%, at 8,808.35. The FTSE 250 was down 89.25 points, 0.4%, at 21,029.76, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.45 points, 0.1%, at 754.80.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 876.53, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 18,534.38, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 16,709.99.
On the FTSE 100, Unite Group edged up 0.1%.
The real estate investment trust said Unite Students has exchanged contracts to sell a portfolio of nine properties for GBP212 million to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds.
Mining firm Fresnillo led the FTSE 100, gaining 1.2%. Advertising agency WPP led the laggers, down 4.3%.
Dr Martens led the FTSE 250, jumping 15%.
The London-based boot maker reported pretax profit of GBP8.8 million for the year ended March 30, down from GBP93.0 million. Revenue decreased 10% to GBP787.6 million but was “in line with guidance…against a challenging macroeconomic and consumer backdrop in several of our core markets”. It also declared a 1.70p final dividend, up from 0.99p but keeping the total payout unchanged at 2.55p.
“Our single focus in FY25 was to bring stability back to Dr. Martens,” commented Chief Executive Officer Ije Nwokorie. “We have achieved this by returning our direct-to-consumer channel in the Americas back to growth, resetting our marketing approach to focus relentlessly on our products, delivering cost savings, and significantly strengthening our balance sheet.”
At the other end, Wizz Air lost 25%.
The airline company did not give guidance for the current year, citing a “lack of visibility across trading seasons”.
Its pretax profit for the year ended March 31 fell 94% to EUR19.7 million, although revenue rose 3.8% to EUR5.27 billion.
Among smaller caps, Marlowe gained 8.1%.
Marlowe and Mitie Group announced that they have agreed on “a unanimously recommended” cash and share takeover offer by which a Mitie subsidiary will acquire Marlowe’s entire share capital.
Mitie, down 9.7% on the FTSE 250, said the offer values Marlowe’s shares at 466p each and its entire share capital at around GBP366 million.
Mitie Group at the same time reported its full-year results, which included a decline in profit, and announced that it is suspending, with immediate effect, a GBP125 million share buyback programme.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday in his first visit to the US capital since becoming chancellor a month ago.
Merz’s meeting will focus on efforts to end the war in Ukraine, NATO’s response to growing external threats, and the trade dispute between the US and the EU. The chancellor has asserted that he is not travelling to the US capital begging for support but as a confident representative of European positions.
In June, Merz and Trump are scheduled to meet twice more: at the Group of Seven, G7, summit in Canada in mid-June and at the NATO summit later that month in The Hague.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3563 early on Thursday in London, down compared to USD1.3566 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.1416, lower against USD1.1425. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY143.33 compared to JPY142.98.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed marginally lower.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.44 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.38%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was also quoted unchanged at 4.90%.
Brent oil was quoted at USD65.08 a barrel early in London on Thursday, up from USD64.65 late Wednesday.
Gold was quoted at USD3,370.42 an ounce, lower against USD3,374.32.
Still to come on Thursday’s economic calendar, UK construction PMI data very shortly. Later, the European Central Bank releases its interest rate decision and holds its press conference in the afternoon.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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