By Patrick Munnelly, Market Strategist, Tickmill
UK stocks opened with little change on Tuesday as investors maintained a cautious stance ahead of crucial domestic inflation data and significant central bank policy meetings.
The FTSE 100 index was treading water for most of the day and saw a marginal increase by the close.
Global financial markets are eagerly anticipating the interest rate decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England (BoE) this week, in addition to key UK inflation data. Investors are watchful for a potential conclusion to the ongoing rate hiking cycle.
FTSE 100 biggest movers
On the negative side of the ledger, shares of Kingfisher Plc LON:KGF, the European home improvement retailer, experienced a notable decline, falling by 11%, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE blue-chip index.
Kingfisher revised its annual profit forecast downward by 7% due to lower sales figures in France and Poland.
The company now anticipates a full-year pretax profit of approximately £590 million (equivalent to $730 million), which represents a 22% decrease compared to the previous year.
Despite the profit downgrade, Kingfisher announced a £300 million share buyback program set to commence in October.
However, the market’s consensus on the company’s shares is currently labelled as ‘Ssell,’ reflecting a lack of confidence in Kingfisher’s immediate outlook, according to analysts at Interactive Investor.
Up to the last close, the stock had remained relatively flat in the year-to-date.
On the positive side of the ledger, shares of Ocado Group Plc LON:OCDO saw a notable increase, rising by 1.2% by the close. This performance placed the stock among the top gainers on the FTSE 100 index on Tuesday.
The British online supermarket has maintained its full-year outlook, reporting a step-up in revenue growth for the third quarter. This growth was supported by a return to positive growth in the number of items sold during the last month of the quarter.
Hargreaves Lansdown LON:HL., the British investment platform, saw a significant surge in its shares, rising by 5.1% by the close making it the top percentage gainer on the day.
The positive momentum in Hargreaves Lansdown’s stock came after the company exceeded annual profit estimates. This achievement was driven by net new business growth, as rising interest rates motivated investors to utilise its Active Saving services.
Notably, the inflows into the Active Savings portfolio for the fiscal year more than doubled, amounting to £3.2 billion (equivalent to $3.96 billion).
Hargreaves Lansdown reported a profit before tax of £402.7 million for the first half of the year, surpassing the company-compiled consensus of £379.4 million.
Despite these gains, the company’s shares had experienced an 11% decline year-to-date as of the previous close.
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