Market overview: FTSE ends higher on Sainsbury, Glencore

1630 (close): The FTSE 100 ended up 2.58%, buoyed by supermarket stocks and a rebound in Glencore. Glencore dominated London's top index after saying it has taken proactive steps to position the mining company to withstand current market conditions including weak commodity prices. The group’s stocks plunged on Monday after Investec highlighted debt concerns and said there was little equity value for shareholders. J Sainsbury also rallied after saying it expected full-year underlying pre-tax profit to be moderately ahead of its £548 forecast, lifting shares in Morrison Supermarkets and Tesco. Investors also digested a batch of economic data including a downward revision to UK GDP, a drop in Eurozone CPI and a better-than-forecast US private payrolls report.

1500: The Chicago ISM manufacturing index for September declined to a reading of 48.7 points from 54.4 in the month before (consensus: 53).

1330: Three-month copper futures rose by 1.5% to reach $5,071 per metric tonne on the LME.

1315: The US private sector generated 200,000 jobs in September, up slightly from the 186,000 seen in the previous month (consensus: 190,000).

1045: Aviva got a boost on Wednesday as Charles Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘accumulate’ from ‘hold’. “While we have doubts over the group’s long term strategic positioning, the stock appears too cheap to ignore at current levels, trading on under 8x FY17 operating EPS and offering a FY17 yield of around 6.5%,” it said.

1030: UBS upgraded HSBC to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ saying the risk/reward on the shares has shifted to the upside. “We believe the market has de-rated the Asian franchise to a multiple of just 1.2x tangible book for a business that we expect to make a 16% return on tangible equity this year. The headline yield of 6.8%, which appears sustainable, also now provides support,” the broker said.

1000: The cost of living in the euro area dipped into negative territory, with the year-on-year rate of change in consumer prices slipping by 0.1% (consensus: 0.0%).

0930: Britain’s economy expanded at a 0.7% quarter-on-quarter clip over the three months ending in June, as expected.

0808: Stocks are expected to move sharply higher ahead of a speech by Fed chair Janet Yellen. That comes as European equities are headed for their worst quarter in four years. GDP data is set for release at 09:30, courtesy of ONS. FTSE100 up 100.45 points to 6,009.69.