London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Wednesday after a downbeat session on Wall Street.
The FTSE 100 index was called to open around 10 points lower.
The consumer price index for December was expected to rise to 4.2%, but it was revealed to be unchanged at 4%.
The largest upward contribution to the monthly change in annual rates for both CPIH and CPI came primarily from housing and household services with higher gas and electricity prices, the ONS said. The largest downward contribution came from furniture and household goods, and food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Dunelm
The dividend was lifted at 7% to 16p per share. Shareholders also saw pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 December rise by 4.8% to £133m, with revenue up 4.5% to £872.5m and a special 35p-a -Receive Share payments.
In other places, united utilities Although we reported strong operational performance in our trading update, there have been no material changes to our 2024 financial guidance since our preliminary results, despite weather-related challenges.
The water company said annual rainfall in 2023 was very high in the north-west of England, negatively impacting the performance of the Outcome Delivery Incentive (ODI) for 2023-2024 by around £25 million. Net ODI outperformance was expected to be around £40m for 2023-2024.