Large cap index back on the up as sentiment stays high
THE FTSE 100 closed up by 1 per cent yesterday, as investors took their positions ahead of last night’s Federal Reserve statement on US growth prospects.
The index ended 45.42 points higher at 4,716.76, after closing down 1.1 per cent on Tuesday, its biggest fall in a fortnight after hitting 2009 highs on Friday.
“Great, great turnaround. There’s been a switch over in sectors, largely down to Wall Street,” said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist and head of research at Brewin Dolphin Securities.
“With newsflow getting better, the market doesn’t want to come back very far. We’re at 4,700 wanting to move upwards, not at 4,700 wanting to move downwards.”
Banks were among the top blue-chip risers, rebounding after falls earlier in the session, as investors’ attention shifted away from ongoing fears of potential cash calls in the sector to positive noises from the UK inflation report.
Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and Barclays added 0.2 to 5.4 per cent. Lloyds Banking Group, which fell earlier in the week following media reports that it was considering a multi-billion-pound share offer, rose 6.5 per cent after it said it would sell the bulk of its Insight Investment unit to Bank of New York Mellon.
BG Group climbed 4.9 per cent, supported by an ING upgrade to “hold” on valuation grounds, while Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.5 per cent, and Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy up 2.5 and 2.1 per cent respectively.
Antofagasta and Lonmin rose 1.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively, while Rio Tinto, Randgold Resources and Xstrata gained 0.3 to 2.8 per cent.
BHP Billiton gave a cautiously optimistic outlook for commodities demand yesterday after posting a 51 per cent dive in second-half profit, its first profit fall in seven years. Its shares rose 1.8 per cent.
Construction and engineering group Balfour Beatty was the top blue chip performer, up 6.6 per cent after it said its underlying first-half pre-tax profit rose by 14 per cent.
Among the fallers, Diageo handed back some of the previous sessions gains, down 0.2 per cent, along with fellow drinks maker SABMiller, off 0.5 per cent
TUI Travel shed 2.9 per cent as warnings over its winter bookings overshadowed strong third-quarter numbers.
BP, Pennon, RSA Insurance, Schroders and Standard Life all fell after trading ex-dividend.