With sterling nudging higher, rising 0.1% against the dollar and 0.2% against the euro, the FTSE 100 fell a further 0.3% to hit 6,880.
“Though the GDP reading for February missed estimates, at 0.4% the country’s economy still grew despite lockdown. Industrial and manufacturing production both exceeded expectations, while construction output also outstripped forecasts,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
A game of tug of war ensued on the FTSE 100 according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell “as one team consisting of miners, financial and real estate couldn’t make any ground against the other team of energy, healthcare and consumer non-cyclicals”.
Next up is this afternoon’s CPI data. Analysts are expecting the standard figure to rise from 0.4% to 0.5% month-on-month, with the core reading up from 0.1% to 0.2%. “Anything higher than those estimates will likely set alarm bells ringing; anything lower will act as reassurance about the pace of building inflationary pressures,” said Campbell.
FTSE 100 Top Movers
Just Eat (2.72%), B&M European Value Retail (2.43%) and JD Sports (2.39%) are the day’s top risers so far midway through the morning session.
The biggest fallers so far on the FTSE are Experian (-1.36%), Rentokil Initial (-1.17%) and British American Tobacco (-1%).
Just Eat Takeaway
Just Eat confirmed today that it received 200m orders in Q1 of 2021, an increase of 79% compared to the same period the year before. UK customers placed the highest number of orders at just under 64m.
The FTSE 100 company suggested in March in its full-year earnings report that it would see Q1 order growth of over 42%.
JD Sports
JD Sports is expecting its profit for the coming year to surpass its level before the pandemic in its end of year report as the company announced it will be resuming its dividend payments. For the financial year ahead, ending in January 2022, JD Sports is expecting to make a profit before tax in the range of £475m to £500m, a rise from its previous forecast of £440m-£450m.
The FTSE 100 firm will pay out a final dividend of 1.44p per share, the same as in 2019, however it has not offered to return any of the government’s assistance even though JD Sports is ending the year with £800m in net cash.
