London close: Stocks finish mixed as US GDP growth slows

(Sharecast News) - London's stock markets finished with a mixed performance on Thursday, as investors digested a slower-than-expected GDP growth reading from the United States, while a slew of well-received earnings underpinned the top-flight index.

The FTSE 100 finished up 0.48%, closing at 8,078.86 points, while the FTSE 250 slipped 0.6% to 19,601.98 points.

In currency markets, sterling was last up 0.22% on the dollar to trade at $1.2492, while it managed gains of 0.04% against the euro, changing hands at €1.1654.

"The FTSE 100 reached a new all-time high on Thursday, driven by a surge in miner Anglo American's stock following a buyout offer from BHP Group," said TickMill market analyst Patrick Munnelly.

"Additionally, investors were pleased with the strong financial results from several leading companies such as Unilever, AstraZeneca, and Barclays."

Munnelly noted that after BHP's announcement of a buyout offer for Anglo American, the London-listed miner's shares soared to their highest level in nine months.

"If successful, this deal would establish the world's largest copper miner, accounting for approximately 10% of global output.

"However, BHP's stock on the UK market experienced a decline in response to the news."

US GDP growth comes in slower than expected, UK retail sales decline

In economic news, activity in the United States faced a larger slowdown than expected at the start of the year, according to fresh data from the Department of Commerce.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a quarterly annualised pace of 1.6%, down from the prior quarter's 3.4% rate and below the consensus forecast of 2.5%.

At the same time, the core price deflator for personal consumption expenditures increased to 3.7% from 2.0% in the prior quarter, indicating rising price pressures.

Factors contributing to the GDP slowdown included reduced consumption, increased imports, decreased inventory building, and a slowdown in public sector spending.

However, private domestic investment expanded 3.2%, a notable improvement from the previous quarter.

"As for the growth outlook, we expect to see more subdued activity in upcoming quarters," said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING.

"The divergence between business surveys and official data is very wide.

"We strongly suspect that business caution will translate into weaker hiring and wage growth and subdued business capex, and that will eventually show up in the official GDP data."

On home shores, the UK retail sector encountered an unexpected decline in sales in April, according to the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) distributive trades survey.

The retail sales volumes gauge plummeted to -44 from 2 in March, accompanied by a decline in orders placed with suppliers to -49 from -22.

Retailers expressed pessimism regarding future sales and orders, with expectations of further declines in May, albeit at a slower pace.

The CBI attributed the surprise slump partly to the timing of Easter this year.

"April's sharp fall was likely related to the earlier timing of Easter this year, so we should take it with a pinch of salt," said Alpesh Paleja, CBI lead economist.

"Indeed, the sector is likely to benefit from some favourable tailwinds this year, as falling inflation continues to drive growth in households' real earnings

"That being said, conditions do remain challenging on the ground; April's fall in sales was faster than expected and retailers aren't overly hopeful about the month ahead.

On the continent, German consumer sentiment continued to strengthen, as indicated by the latest GfK consumer climate indicator.

Heading into May, the indicator rose to -24.2, the highest level in two years and surpassing forecasts for -25.9.

The improvement marked the third consecutive monthly rise.

Anglo American surges on BHP offer, ex-divs drag on the downside

On London's equity markets, Anglo American soared 16.1% following confirmation of an unsolicited takeover proposal from Australia's BHP Group.

The offer, worth £31.1bn, offered shareholders of the London-listed miner 0.7097 BHP shares for each Anglo share.

Elsewhere, AstraZeneca saw a notable uptick of 5.65% after reporting an 18% increase in first-quarter revenues, driven by robust sales of its cancer drugs, surpassing market expectations.

Barclays edged up 2.52%, despite a 12% decline in first-quarter profit, buoyed by slightly better-than-expected results.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals also made gains of 2.26%, driven by a strong performance across all business segments in 2024.

On the downside, J Sainsbury fell 4.25% despite the grocer surpassing earnings expectations for the year.

Trainline plummeted by 11.95%, coinciding with the Labour Party's pledge to renationalise Britain's railways if elected.

Online greeting cards and gift retailer Moonpig slid by 12.73% after a discounted share placement by certain shareholders.

WH Smith also experienced a sharp decline of 6.04%, despite expressing confidence in meeting full-year expectations, as its first-half results underwhelmed.

Legal & General Group, Greggs, Bakkavor Group, St James's Place, and Morgan Sindall Group all traded lower after going ex-dividend, affecting shareholder payouts.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,078.86 0.48% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,601.98 -0.60% techMARK (TASX) 4,515.55 0.36%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,560.00p 16.10% Barclays (BARC) 204.00p 6.73% AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,026.00p 5.94% Unilever (ULVR) 4,082.00p 5.67% Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,227.00p 2.82% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,854.00p 2.26% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 289.80p 1.36% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,827.50p 1.27% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 260.70p 1.12% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,890.00p 0.93%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 232.80p -6.36% Schroders (SDR) 347.20p -5.45% St James's Place (STJ) 421.00p -5.18% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 256.60p -4.25% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,838.00p -3.91% Convatec Group (CTEC) 275.60p -3.30% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,850.00p -3.28% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,320.00p -3.19% Prudential (PRU) 714.00p -2.88% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 405.70p -2.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Inchcape (INCH) 786.50p 9.32% Senior (SNR) 163.80p 2.37% Drax Group (DRX) 524.00p 2.24% Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 51.00p 2.19% Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 103.60p 2.17% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,225.00p 2.06% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 66.20p 1.85% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 159.60p 1.79% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 51.90p 1.76% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 5,290.00p 1.73%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Moonpig Group (MOON) 155.00p -12.73% Trainline (TRN) 302.00p -11.95% Indivior (INDV) 1,400.00p -7.53% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 493.00p -6.98% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 334.20p -6.07% WH Smith (SMWH) 1,182.00p -6.04% Mobico Group (MCG) 52.85p -5.63% Tyman (TYMN) 374.00p -4.83% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 117.50p -4.47% FirstGroup (FGP) 163.70p -4.10%