U.K. stocks were seeing modest gains on Wednesday after core U.S. inflation data rose less than expected in March, helping bring a retreat in yields on shorter-dated notes.
Closer home, U.K. consumer price inflation advanced to 7.0 percent in March from 6.2 percent in February, the Office for National Statistics said. The rate was forecast to climb to 6.7 percent.
This was the highest annual inflation in the National Statistics series, which began in January 1997. It was also the highest rate in the historic modeled series since March 1992, when it stood at 7.1 percent.
The benchmark FTSE 100 inched up 15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,592 after losing 0.6 percent on Tuesday.
Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco slumped 5.2 percent after a warning that its profit will get squeezed this financial year due to the tough economic conditions and pressure on consumers alike.
Peers JD Sports, Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer all fell around 3 percent while Ocado Group plunged nearly 6 percent.
FTSE 100 Maintains Modest Gains; Retailers Slump
2022-04-13 09:44:07
