London pre-open: Stocks seen muted as investors mull retail sales
Sharecast
Published May 26, 2023 08:15
London pre-open: Stocks seen muted as investors mull retail sales
Sharecast - The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,570.
Figures out earlier from the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales rose 0.5% in April as shoppers returned to the high street, coming in ahead of expectations for growth of 0.3%.
Food store sales volumes were 0.7% higher, while non-food store sales were up 1%.
ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner said: "Retail sales grew, partially rebounding from a poor weather affected March, with jewellers, sports retailers and department stores all having a good month. Despite continued high food prices, supermarkets also recovered from the fall in March.
"However, these were partly offset by a drop in the amount of fuel sold, despite prices also dropping."
There wasn’t much happening on the corporate front, but AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) said results from a Phase III trial showed its Imfinzi treatment in combination with chemotherapy showed a significant improvement in patients with endometrial cancer.
The pharmaceutical company said the drug, followed by either Imfinzi plus its Lynparza drug or Imfinzi alone as maintenance therapy showed a "statistically significant and clinically meaningful" improvement in progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy alone in patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.
"There was a greater clinical benefit observed with the combination of Imfinzi and Lynparza as maintenance treatment," it added.
Read more on Sharecast.com
Get The App
Written By: Sharecast
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.