UK stocks are experiencing limited movement on Wednesday morning, as investors primarily focus on earnings reports and analyze data concerning the country’s manufacturing and services sector activities for January. Concerns over potential extended trade conflicts persist, fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs against major trading partners, adding to the uncertainty surrounding global economic growth prospects.
Currently, the FTSE 100 index shows a slight increase of 3.30 points, marking a 0.05% rise to 9,574.07.
A range of companies including DCC, Croda International, Spirax Group, Diageo, Convatec Group, Whitbread, Halma, EasyJet, Coca-Cola HBC, Diploma, Scottish Mortgage, Prudential, Kingfisher, and Airtel Africa have experienced declines of 1% to 3.2%.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has seen a notable rise of nearly 5.5%, following a strong performance in 2024 and an upward revision of its long-term sales outlook. Fresnillo is also up by almost 4%. Other companies like BT Group, Entain, Marks & Spencer, Endeavour Mining, Auto Trader Group, and Tesco have reported gains between 1% and 1.5%.
In terms of economic indicators, the S&P Global UK Composite PMI improved to 50.6 in January 2025 from 50.4 the previous month, recovering from a 14-month low. Meanwhile, the services sector PMI was reported at 50.8, down slightly from the 51.1 recorded in December. The manufacturing PMI rose to 48.3 from 47.0.
