FTSE 100 Flat At Noon; Weak PMI Data Weighs
(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks turned in a mixed performance Wednesday morning as weak PMI data weighed on sentiment. Oil prices recovered from early lows, rendering the mood a bit cautious.
The FTSE 100 index, which advanced to 10,765.19 earlier, was at 10.707.77 at noon, up slightly from previous close.
AutoTrader Group and JD Sports Fashion dropped 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively. Melrose Industries, St. James's Place, IG Group Holdings, Barratt Redrow, Vodafone Group, Spirax Group, AstraZeneca, United Utilities, Tesco and GSK shed 1%-2%.
Rentokil Initial climbed 2.7%. LSEG, Standard Chartered, Lion Finance, Burberry Group, BP, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Polar Capital Technology Trust, 3i Group, Relx, SSE and HSBC Holdings gained 0.7%-1.5%.
Shares of engineering company Renishaw rallied nearly 4% thanks to record annual results.
Flash survey data from S&P Global showed the UK Composite PMI eased to 51.7 in September from 52.5 in the previous month, slightly under market expectations of 52.0. Still, the result marked a third month of expansion in British private sector activity after the surge in prices from the war in Iran triggered back-to-back contractions in May.
The Services sector PMI came in at 51.7 for September, down from 52.5 in August, while the Manufacturing PMI score for September was 51.4, down from 52.1 a month earlier.
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