London close: Stocks end quarter on a strong note as Parliament rebuffs PM's proposal

London stocks pushed higher on the last day of the quarter as lawmakers voted down the government's proposed EU withdrawal agreement for a third time, possibly paving the way for a milder sort of Brexit and perhaps even general elections, according to some analysts.

The FTSE 100 rose by 0.62% or 71.6 points to 7,279.19, on the back of gains for the mining sector following positive reports on US-China trade talks, with senior representatives from Washington saying that talks had been "constructive".

Meanwhile, the second-tier index notched up a gain of 1.10% or 208.90 points to 19,117.49.

A dip in the pound provided further support, with sterling down 0.33% against the US dollar at 1.3005 and 0.27% lower on the euro to 1.1594.

For the week, the top flight index put on 71.6 points or 0.99% and over the course of the first quarter 551.06 points or 8.1%, as the FTSE 250 added 0.63% and 9.2%, respectively.

On Friday afternoon, MPs voted by 344 votes to 286 against the Prime Minister's proposed withdrawal agreement.

According to Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in the wake of Friday's vote, the options left to Theresa May included either calling a general election, pushing for a no-deal Brexit, or softening her Brexit plans in a bid to bring more MPs on side.

"We continue to doubt that she will call an election, as it would not clarify the way forward and might unseat her party from power. Current opinion polls imply a high chance of another hung parliament. If she attempts a no-deal departure, we suspect enough sane heads in the Tory party would defect and bring her government down before the cliff-edge was reached," Tombs said.

"So Mrs. May must now listen to the Commons and tear up some her red lines before April 12, in order to get a further extension of article 50 and a deal finally through the Commons."

For his part, IG's Chris Beauchamp had this to say: "Amazingly the PM will probably try once more, as her transformation into the Blackadder version of Sir Douglas Haig continues, but there seems precious little point in speculating about the outcome.

"While Theresa May has not lost the American colonies, as Lord North did, her premiership will certainly rank as one of the most pointless in British history. Away from Brexit, US and European markets are still enjoying gains off the back of comments that suggest progress in trade talks. This is another long-running issue, but one that might see a resolution before the end of 2019, in stark contrast to Brexit."

DATA OVERSHADOWED

Amid the focus on Brexit, investors seemed to pay little attention to confirmation from the Office for National Statistics that gross domestic product fell to 0.2% in the fourth quarter of last year from 0.7% in the third.

Overnight, mortgage lender Nationwide reported a month-on-month increase of 0.2% in UK house prices during the month of March.

That pushed the year-on-year rate of growth up from 0.4% during the previous month to 0.7% (consensus: 0.5%).

According to Tombs, the steady levels of mortgage approvals seen year-to-date, together with signs that wages could continue to grow at a 3% pace and only gradual increases in mortgage rates pointed to year-on-year growth in house prices recovering to about 2% by the end of 2019.

On London's equity markets, miners were leading the way, with Antofagasta sitting atop the Footsie, with Glencore and Anglo American not far behind.

Travis Perkins shares were were slightly higher after it announced that chief executive John Carter will step down in August after five years in the role and be succeeded by Nick Roberts, currently CEO of engineer Atkins.

TUI was trading sharply lower after the Anglo-German tour operator said that the grounding of the 737 MAX Boeing aircraft in its fleet would subtract €200-€300m from its full-year operating profits, depending on whether the jets would be back in the air by mid-July or September. In the meantime, the tour operator was scrambling to rectify the situation, utilising spare jets, renewing expiring leases and leasing additional aircraft. EasyJet shares were also lower.

AstraZeneca was bottom of the blue chip list as it announced plans to raise $3.5bn (£2.7bn) in a share placing to fund a new cancer drug collaboration with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo and repay some of its bonds. The collaboration is for a novel antibody-drug conjugate, trastuzumab deruxtecan, which is hoped will treat breast and other cancers.

Software company Micro Focus International reversed early losses as it reiterated its previous guidance for the financial year ahead of its annual general meeting. Guidance was for further moderation of revenue decline, and consequently constant currency revenue of between -4% and -6%, compared to a decline of 7.1% for the prior financial year.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,279.19 0.62%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,117.49 1.10%
techMARK (TASX) 3,507.49 0.23%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 966.00p 3.60%
CRH (CRH) 2,375.00p 3.49%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,053.50p 3.08%
BAE Systems (BA.) 482.40p 2.86%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,154.00p 2.77%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 335.90p 2.63%
Schroders (SDR) 2,702.00p 2.54%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 512.00p 2.44%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,435.00p 2.35%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 263.95p 2.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

AstraZeneca (AZN) 6,135.00p -5.56%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 737.20p -4.44%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,689.00p -1.86%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 175.45p -1.52%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,142.00p -1.35%
SSE (SSE) 1,187.00p -1.33%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,976.00p -1.20%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 814.40p -1.19%
DCC (DCC) 6,655.00p -0.82%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 521.60p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Vivo Energy (VVO) 128.32p 8.67%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 124.60p 5.95%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 446.80p 5.38%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 653.40p 5.15%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 180.24p 4.95%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 240.60p 4.61%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 752.00p 4.59%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,258.00p 4.49%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 362.20p 4.24%
Ascential (ASCL) 356.60p 4.15%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 79.20p -1.98%
Pennon Group (PNN) 743.60p -1.93%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 507.40p -1.86%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,010.00p -1.70%
Saga (SAGA) 111.20p -1.68%
Provident Financial (PFG) 511.80p -1.61%
Just Group (JUST) 61.20p -1.45%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,375.00p -1.25%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 153.60p -1.22%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,940.00p -1.18%