Source: Sharecast
The Footsie was swinging between gains and losses over the morning session, with under 40 points separating its intraday high and low.
By the midday mark, the index was more or less unchanged from Wednesday's close of 8,494.85 – its highest finish since 2 April, following a 10.7% rally over the past 13 trading days.
Helping to limit profit-taking, however, were results from Wall Street giants Microsoft and Amazon, which impressed as first-quarter numbers topped market forecasts, with shares in both rising strongly in after-hours trading.
“Microsoft and Meta’s better than expected results should help quash any fears that the Magnificent Seven group of tech companies have gone off the boil,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell. “The positive market reaction in pre-market trading to Microsoft’s and Meta’s numbers represents a turning point for mega cap tech stocks which have endured a poor showing year-to-date."
In other positive news, the Trump administration reached a minerals deal with Kyiv that will see the US invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine in exchange for preferential access to natural resources deals. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” said treasury secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.
Thursday was set to be another busy day for economic data in the US, with Challenger job cuts figures, jobless claims and two key manufacturing PMIs scheduled for release.
In the UK, meanwhile, the final reading of the S&P Global manufacturing PMI for April was revised up to 45.4, up from March's 17-month low of 44.9 and the flash estimate of 44.0 – though still firmly below the neutral 50-point mark which denotes a contraction in activity.
"While the PMI's tendency to respond to shifts in sentiment rather than activity may be overstating the weakness, reduced access to a key export market, a softer world economy and domestic uncertainty present the sector with a challenging economic outlook," said Matt Swannell, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club.
Whitbread impresses, Lloyds disappoints
Leisure group Whitbread was a high riser, jumping 3% after announcing a £250m share buyback following its full-year results. The company reported a 19% drop in annual profits but said its five-year plan was still on track.
Publishing and exhibitions group Informa also impressed with "further strong growth" in Q1, with continuing forward visibility through subscriptions, recurring revenues and forward booked contracts. Shares were up 3%.
Lloyds fell 3% after raising its bad debt provision in the first quarter £309m from £57m a year earlier, citing downside risks from the impact of US tariffs. Net income rose 4% to £4.4bn while pre-tax profit fell 7% to £1.5bn as the bank reaffirmed full-year guidance.
Rolls-Royce gained after reporting a "strong" start to the year and saying it expects to be able to offset the hit from US trade tariffs. In a trading update issued ahead of its AGM, the engineer's chief executive officer said that the company was taking "mitigation actions" with respect to the tariffs.
In contrast, shares in FTSE 250-listed Clarkson slumped after the ship broker issued a profit warning, citing the impact of US tariffs. The company said underlying pre-tax earnings would now be £85m-95m this year, down from £115.3m last year. Clarkson shares tanked in March after it warning that geopolitical and macro challenges would result in lower freight rates and asset values.
A host of stocks were also trading lower after going ex-dividend, including 4Imprint, Centrica and Greggs.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,495.10 0.00%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,006.29 0.61%
techMARK (TASX) 4,587.49 0.21%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 2,101.00p 3.55%
Informa (INF) 752.80p 3.44%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,681.00p 3.39%
Entain (ENT) 657.60p 3.14%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 268.10p 3.12%
St James's Place (STJ) 966.40p 2.90%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 925.20p 2.82%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,224.00p 2.70%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,652.00p 2.58%
Prudential (PRU) 812.20p 2.58%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BP (BP.) 339.95p -2.95%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 71.28p -2.73%
Shell (SHEL) 2,384.00p -2.32%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,544.00p -1.72%
BT Group (BT.A) 171.25p -1.47%
GSK (GSK) 1,463.00p -1.38%
Centrica (CNA) 158.00p -1.34%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 384.60p -1.13%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 15,250.00p -1.04%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,328.00p -0.94%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 67.90p 15.28%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 71.40p 6.01%
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 144.20p 4.80%
Mobico Group (MCG) 32.48p 4.44%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 300.50p 4.16%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,096.00p 3.97%
Genus (GNS) 1,910.00p 3.69%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 368.00p 3.66%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 231.00p 3.59%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,679.00p 3.26%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,080.00p -9.41%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,985.00p -9.13%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 147.40p -3.66%
Coats Group (COA) 70.00p -3.31%
Elementis (ELM) 121.20p -3.19%
Greggs (GRG) 1,821.00p -1.94%
Senior (SNR) 136.40p -1.59%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 929.00p -1.33%
Energean (ENOG) 870.50p -1.30%
Bellevue Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 120.40p -1.15%