London pre-open: Stocks seen muted as investors mull retail sales
Sharecast – The 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:) 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.
