Source: Sharecast
At 0825 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 9,203.75.
Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, pointed out that the meeting is not due to start until 8.30pm London time, meaning it’s likely to conclude a long while after the market closes for the week, with a press conference set to be held once talks wrap up.
"Hence, there is the potential for significant gapping risk when markets get back up and running for the week on Sunday night, though positions will probably be squared up, especially in crude benchmarks, during the day today, to mitigate that risk somewhat," he said.
There are no major corporate or macroeconomic releases due in the UK as the summer lull well and truly sets in.
In the US, however, retail sales, industrial production and export/import prices are due, along with the University of Michigan sentiment index.
Before that, investors turned their attention to China, where a trio of leading economic indicators came in below estimates.
Industrial production grew at a year-on-year rate of 5.7% last month, down from 6.8% in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This was below the 5.9% increase expected by economists and the slowest rate registered since November 2024, as manufacturing activity was dampened by flooding across the country and a record-breaking heatwave.
Retail sales also disappointed, rising by just 3.7% over last year, down from 4.8% growth in June. This came in well below the 4.6% increase expected by the market, with growth slowing to its lowest since December 2024.
Meanwhile, fixed asset investment statistics showed just a 1.6% year-on-year increase over the January to July period, slowing markedly from the 2.8% growth registered over the first six months of the year. The consensus estimate was 2.7%.
In equity markets, there was an unsurprising dearth of news, given the time of year.
Heavily-weighted miners were the best performers on the FTSE 100 as copper prices rose, with Antofagasta, Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all higher.
Kingsmill owner Associated British Foods ticked up after saying it has agreed to buy Hovis Group from private equity firm Endless for an undisclosed sum.
ABF did not disclose any financial details, but Sky News has suggested a price tag of around £75m.
Outside the FTSE 350, Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital was in focus after MSQ Partners ruled out a potential merger with the ad company. In a brief statement on Thursday, the company said it had been "surprised" by the speculation and recent announcement regarding a potential merger with S4 Capital.
S4 announced on Monday that it had received a proposal from MSQ, a creative and technology agency owned by One Equity Partners, about a possible combination.
If agreed, it said, the possible combination would be structured as an acquisition of MSQ by S4 Capital and not an offer under the takeover code for S4 Capital by MSQ.
But MSQ said on Thursday that its board of directors has not been involved in discussions regarding, or considered any proposal for S4.
"While speculative informal conversations form part of the investor community and MSQ understands that such discussions may have taken place between representatives of One Equity Partners (OEP), MSQ's majority shareholder, and S4 Capital, for the avoidance of doubt, neither OEP nor MSQ intend to pursue further discussions regarding the rumoured transaction," MSQ said.
S4 Capital shares rose 2.5%.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,203.75 0.29%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,864.86 0.29%
techMARK (TASX) 5,282.29 0.14%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,163.00p 3.20%
Glencore (GLEN) 303.65p 3.11%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,180.00p 2.68%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,571.00p 2.01%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,792.00p 1.61%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,115.50p 1.36%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,244.00p 1.29%
Beazley (BEZ) 786.50p 1.29%
SEGRO (SGRO) 645.20p 1.26%
BP (BP.) 418.90p 1.17%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,184.00p -2.75%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,396.00p -0.78%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,207.00p -0.73%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,095.00p -0.59%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,864.00p -0.51%
Relx plc (REL) 3,512.00p -0.48%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,298.00p -0.48%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,770.50p -0.25%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 951.60p -0.24%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 21,300.00p -0.23%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 378.00p 4.59%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 240.00p 3.00%
Vistry Group (VTY) 639.20p 1.52%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 320.50p 1.42%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 376.00p 1.35%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 215.20p 1.32%
Inchcape (INCH) 672.00p 1.20%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 210.00p 1.20%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 228.30p 1.20%
Empiric Student Property (ESP) 93.10p 1.20%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 631.00p -4.25%
Trainline (TRN) 261.20p -2.46%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 686.50p -2.00%
Grainger (GRI) 200.00p -1.72%
Ibstock (IBST) 143.60p -1.10%
Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 86.50p -0.92%
Chemring Group (CHG) 535.00p -0.74%
Avon Technologies (AVON) 2,040.00p -0.73%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,101.00p -0.72%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 526.00p -0.66%