FTSE 100 watch: Footsie steady as investors digest earnings and inflation data

The UK benchmark index has been steady in today’s session, with investors digesting inflation data, as well as a string of corporate earnings. Pearson (LON:PSON) has climbed to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard after updating investors on recent trading.

Banking stocks supported by inflation data

As of 12:26 BST, the Footsie had added 19.65 points to stand 0.26 percent higher at 7,546.62. The blue-chip index traded marginally lower earlier in the session, as the Office for National Statistics reported that consumer price inflation had climbed to the highest rate in over five years last month, with the news raising expectations for a rate hike by the Bank of England (BoE) and boosting the pound. Financials have reacted positively to the inflation data, with Barclays (LON:BARC) leading the sector higher, having added 1.61 percent to 192.30p.

“While the market now expects the first hike in November, having recently brought forward its expectations from as late as 2019, current pricing suggests the market is anticipating only one further hike in 2018,” Kallum Pickering, senior UK economist at Berenberg, said in a note, as quoted by MarketWatch.

Pearson flies high, Merlin sinks

In individual movers, shares in Pearson have advanced after the publisher updated investors on its recent trading, narrowing its guidance for the current year to the upper half of the range. Pearson’s share price is currently 7.96 percent better off at 671.00p. At the other end of the spectrum has been Merlin Entertainment (LON:MERL), whose shares have posted a hefty drop after the tourist attractions operator revealed that a series of terrorist attacks in Britain had hit its performance. Merlin is 17.72 percent down at 370.00p.

The FTSE 100 was 0.22 percent up at 7,543.49 points as of 12:47 BST on Tuesday, 17 October 2017.