After data revealed that Britain’s economic performance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic had been greater than previously thought, mood improved, and UK markets edged higher at opening on Friday.
London stocks rise at open: By 0713 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.5%. As a result of changes to official data released by the Office of National Statistics, Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2023 was verified to have increased by 0.2% from the quarter prior, in accordance with economist predictions surveyed by Reuters.
The second quarter GDP growth was faster than that of Germany or France and was 1.8% higher than the fourth quarter of 2019, which was the final full quarter before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Personal products, retailers, and homebuilders’ shares all increased by more than 1%, driving up consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors.
The shares of luxury carmaker Aston Martin rose 7.7% after the company announced Chairman Lawrence Stroll’s Yew Tree Consortium had increased its position in the company by 3.27% to 26.23%, helping the mid-cap FTSE 250 index gain 0.8%.
After the British water company announced plans to raise 1 billion pounds ($1.2 billion) in fresh equity, including 500 million pounds from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Severn Trent shares increased by 3.0%.