(Sharecast News) - London stocks were little changed in early trade on Thursday following an uninspiring Asian session, amid ongoing concerns about rising inflation.
At 0900 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 7,021.67.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: "This week has been particularly lacklustre for the US and European stock markets. Traders do not seem to be finding their appetite for riskier assets and the main concern among them has been about rising inflation. Basically, what investors are doing is monitoring the economic numbers very closely and trying to guess the next move by the Federal Reserve about their monetary policy.

"It is highly likely that the Fed may be on the edge of thinking of beginning the discussion of pulling back some of their coronavirus related support. As for the markets, we continue to see low volume and subdued volatility and both of them are signs of a major brewing."

In equity markets, Rolls-Royce was the top performer on the FTSE 100 after Airbus said it was ramping up aircraft production as the aviation sector begins to recover. GKN owner Melrose and Meggitt were also trading higher.

Aviva gained as it said new life business premiums were flat year-on-year in the first quarter, with growth in Savings & Retirement and lower volumes of Annuities & Equity Release in a subdued market compared to a strong start in 2020.

Industrial software group Aveva was boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral' at Barclays.

Pets at Home rallied as it increased its final dividend by 10% and predicted a big jump in annual profit after reporting strong trading fuelled by people buying pets during the pandemic.

On the downside, Johnson Matthey fell as it reported a 22% decline in full-year pre-tax profit.

Water company United Utilities lost ground as it raised its dividend in line with its policy but reported a 21% drop in annual profit caused mainly by lower water bills.

Tate & Lyle was also in the red even as it posted a 6% rise in adjusted annual profits, driven by double-digit growth in its food and beverage division.

Gold miner Centamin lost its shine after an initiation at 'sell' by Liberum.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,021.67 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,649.10 0.04%
techMARK (TASX) 4,378.10 0.10%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 105.90p 2.78%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 167.95p 2.53%
Aviva (AV.) 408.10p 2.13%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,123.50p 2.02%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,249.00p 1.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,022.00p 1.83%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,464.00p 1.41%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,526.00p 1.40%
Glencore (GLEN) 311.15p 1.19%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,104.50p 1.17%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,450.00p -3.01%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,062.00p -2.79%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,510.00p -2.48%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,643.00p -1.85%
Evraz (EVR) 638.40p -1.81%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 985.20p -1.68%
Kingfisher (KGF) 361.80p -1.50%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,110.00p -1.45%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,383.00p -1.39%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,298.20p -1.34%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Meggitt (MGGT) 498.80p 2.85%
Hammerson (HMSO) 38.04p 2.81%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 455.00p 2.76%
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 257.60p 1.97%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 172.05p 1.68%
Premier Foods (PFD) 111.60p 1.64%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,120.00p 1.63%
Trainline (TRN) 277.40p 1.54%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 231.60p 1.49%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 628.00p 1.45%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Tate & Lyle (TATE) 772.60p -5.13%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 115.10p -4.99%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 107.40p -2.54%
Diploma (DPLM) 2,962.00p -2.05%
Elementis (ELM) 155.70p -1.95%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 405.00p -1.94%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,840.00p -1.90%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 103.20p -1.71%
Britvic (BVIC) 928.00p -1.54%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 4,950.00p -1.39%