FTSE 100 in the green today; Composite&Services PMIs in focus

Investing.com – U.K. equities started mixed on Thursday. The top gainers were Household Goods, Electricity and Aerospace & Defense sectors. Tobacco, Personal Goods and Industrial Engineering sectors were the top losers.

At the market open in London, the FTSE 100 Index rose 0.18%. The FTSE 250 Index and the FTSE 350 Index also climbed. The FTSE 250 climbed 0.21%, while the FTSE 350 was up by 0.35%.

Top Gainers:

• JD Sports Fashion (LON:JD): Climbed 2.24% or 3.15 points to 143.50.
• Persimmon (LON:PSN): Rose 2.25% or 36.5 points to 1,660.5.
• Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV): Increased 1.66% or 7.90 points to 482.60.

Top Losers:

• Phoenix Group Holdings PLC (LON:PHNX): Dropped 5.49% or 30.50 points to 525.00.
• Diploma (LON:DPLM): Declined 2.35% or 104.00 points to 4,330.00.
• DS Smith (LON:SMDS): Fell 1.76% or 8.20 points to 458.00.

In Commodities Trading:

• Gold Futures for December delivery rose 2.00 points to 2,671.70 a troy ounce.
• Crude Oil for November climbed fell 1.05 points to 71.15 a barrel.
• December Brent Oil Contract increased 1.39% or 1.03 points to 74.93 a barrel.

Currency Markets:

• GBP/USD dropped to 1.3163.
• EUR/GBP is at 0.8381.
• The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 101.564.

Main Economic Events:

Today's main economic event in the United Kingdom is the PMI data. Both the composite and the services indices are expected to cool down slightly.