Headline shares made modest early progress, on a day bereft of corporate news, with investors cautious ahead of the latest UK GDP reading, due later this morning, with Carnival (LON:CCL) keeping the FTSE afloat. At 8:30am, the FTSE100 was up just 8.33 points at 5,673.66 with the FTSE250 ahead 21.8 points at 10,457.4 and the FTSE Smallcaps 5.72 points better at 2,931.65. In the US last night, the Dow added 9 points at 11,134, the Nasdaq Composite gained 14 points at 2,519 and the S&P500 was up 3 points at 1,209. In Asia today, the Nikkei was down 34.63 points at 10,914.46, while the Hang Seng was recently off 179.07 points at 21,275.87.
LONDON MARKETS
In sharp contrast to recent days, the corporate diary is a very thin affair, with final results due from Gas Turbine Efficiency (LON:GTE) and a trading statement expected from Morgan Crucible Co (LON:MGCR). Byblos Bank, JSC Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan, Mediwatch (LON:MDW), Morgan Crucible Co (LON:MGCR), Rotork (LON:ROR), SDL (LON:SDL), Senior (LON:SNR) Sthree Plc (LON:STHR), Telekomunikacja Polska and Ultra Electronics Holdings host their AGMs. The preliminary UK GDP figure is due for release at 9:30am.
Trade in London got off to a quiet start, with little in the way of corporate news to provide direction and investors cautious ahead of the UK GDP reading. Banking shares made modest progress, with Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) the best of them, up 1.1p at 54.95p on being raised to overweight from equal-weight at Barclays (LON:BARC) Capital. Lloyds edged up 0.17p at 66.65p and Barclays (LON:BARC) added 0.35p at 360.05p.
Retailers were in demand, with supermarket giant Tesco (LON:TSCO) adding 4.5p at 447.85p and peers Morrisons and Sainsbury gaining 0.9p at 297.7p and 0.6p at 345.9p, while Marks & Spencer Group (LON:MKS) ticked up 0.7p at 372.3p. Firming precious metals prices gave gold and silver miners a boost, with Fresnillo (LON:FRES) the sector leader, up 13p at 829p and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) 80p higher at 5,160p. Platinum processor Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT) gained 23p at 1,757p.
Carnival (LON:CCL) cruised to the top of the leaderboard in early deals, ahead 106p at 2,798p, while tour operators were also positive as flight schedules got back to normal. Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) eased up 0.2p…
