FTSE 100 Up Marginally As Investors React To Earnings, Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - After edging up marginally at the start, U.K. stocks retreated a bit and are quite subdued in late morning trade Tuesday, with investors digesting the nation's jobs data and corporate earnings updates.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 15 points or 0.17% at 8,783.01 a little while ago.

Miners Antofagasta and Glencore are up 2.4% and 2%, respectively. Antofagasta backed its FY25 outlook after reporting strong 2024 performance with 5% revenue growth and a widened EBITDA margin at 52%.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, Ashtead Group, Natwest Group, HSBC Holdings, Hiscox, Melrose Industries, IAG and Barclays Group are up 1 to 2%.

BAE Systems, Pershing Square Holdings, Intertek Group, British American Tobacco, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered are up with modest gains.

BT Group is down 5.5% as Citi has downgraded its stance on the shares to 'sell' from 'buy' and cut the price target.

CTS Eventim surged 2.4 percent. The company said its 2024 revenue grew by 19 percent, driven by both its ticketing and live entertainment segments.

Intercontinental Hotels Group is down nearly 3%. The global hospitality leader announced the acquisition of the Ruby brand from Ruby SARL for an initial purchase consideration of €110.5 million (approximately $116 million).

Sainsbury (J) is down 2.7%. Airtel Africa, Tesco, Severn Trent, RightMove, SSE, Centrica, Marks & Spencer and Mondi are lower by 1 to 2.3%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK unemployment rate remained unchanged in the fourth quarter, with the jobless rate coming in a 4.4%, the same as in the preceding period. Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 4.5%.

In the three months to December, average earnings excluding bonus grew at a pace of 5.9% annually, in line with expectations. At the same time, including bonus, earnings advanced 6% compared to economists' forecast of 5.9%.

Data showed that payroll employees for January increased 21,000 from the last month and increased by 49,000 from the previous year to 30.4 million.