FTSE 100 Up Marginally After Inflation Data
(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are up marginally a little past noon on Wednesday, outperforming other major European markets, thanks to data showing a smaller than expected increase in the nation's consumer prices in the month of February.
The data from the Office for National Statistics came ahead of the Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Spring Statement. Markets expect Chancellor Rachel Reeves to tighten the fiscal policy by GBP 10 billion. Reeves is likely to reduce spending plans instead of introducing new tax hikes.
The benchmark FTSE 100 is up 15.03 points or 0.17% at 8,678.83 a few minutes past noon.
Marks & Spencer is up 2.5% and Hiscox is gaining 2.3%. Rentokil Initial, Shell, Prudential, Severn Trent, SSE, Croda International, Beazley and Next are up 1 to 1.7%.
Admiral Group is declining 2.4%. Smiths Group, Standard Chartered, Auto Trader Group, GSK, Imperial Brands, AstraZeneca, Schroders and Games Workshop are lower by 0.8 to 1.4%.
Data showed U.K.'s consumer price index logged an annual increase of 2.8% in February, following January's 3% rise. Prices were forecast to climb again by 3%. Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was 3.5%.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.4%, in contrast to the 0.1% fall in January. Economists had forecast prices to increase 0.5%.
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