London close: Blue-chip miners, banks push FTSE higher as house builders fly

London indices closed up thanks to heady gains among house builders after Persimmon posted robust first-half results, with miners, financials and supermarkets also on the up.

While house builders dominated the top end of the blue-chip leaders' ladder, it was "miners and banks that are doing the real heavy lifting," said IG senior market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

At about 16:57 BST, FTSE 100 was up 0.59% and FTSE 250 was up 0.62%.

Home-builder Persimmon's first-half pre-tax profit rose, but it was the company's outlook and accompanying data that pleased investors. Shares in Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group rose on the read-over.

Miners followed in numbers as the price of gold eased, while silver rose and copper slipped. Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto were all firmly ahead.

Grocery titan Tesco rallied after Kantar Worldpanel said sales in the 12 weeks to 14 August fell 0.4%, the slowest rate of decline in six months. Sainsbury and Morrisons chased.

Within the wider financial sector, banks Barclays and Lloyds were gaining, while among insurers it was Standard Life and Aviva piloting the pack north.

Commercial property, leisure, high-street retail and utilities also put in strong showings.

Against this backdrop, the Euro zone's composite purchasing managers' index unexpectedly nudged up to a seven-month high in August. It printed at 53.3, from 53.2 in July.

The bloc's flash services PMI beat expectations, while that for manufacturing missed forecasts.

"The August flash PMI indicates that the eurozone remains on a steady growth path in the third quarter," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

There were "no signs of the recovery being derailed by 'Brexit' uncertainty," he added.

Dennis de Jong, managing director of UFX.com, commented the European Central Bank (ECB) would have been pleased to see the strong PMI data from Germany and France, as well as the positive signals from the EU's manufacturing and services industries.

"ECB president Mario Draghi won't be overly concerned about the poor consumer confidence results released (separately) today as the downbeat sentiment has been part and parcel of the economic picture for some time now," de Jong said in a note.

European Commission's flash reading on consumer sentiment fell to -8.5 in August, from from -7.9 previously. Economists had been expecting a reading of -7.7.

Remaining with economic data, this time across the Atlantic, Markit's flash US manufacturing PMI fell more than expected to 52.1 in August, from a nine-month high of 52.9 in July.

"The August drop in the (US) PMI is a disappointment but less worrying when looked at in the context of July’s better-than-expected reading," Williamson said.

"Taking the July and August readings together suggests that manufacturing is enjoying its best growth so far this year in the third quarter, and should help drive stronger gross domestic product growth."

In other US economic news, new home sales shot up a greater-than-expected 12.4% to 654,000 in July, Department of Commerce said. House prices were up, too.

The week's main event remained US Federal Reserve's annual conference at Jackson Hole on Friday. Analysts were looking for Fed chair Janet Yellen to shed light on the timing of the next US interest-rate hike, following hawkish remarks from policymakers last week.

"Investors are still not buying a 2016 rate hike, even following Stanley Fischer's comments over the weekend regarding the economy," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"Markets (are) now marginally pricing in February (for a hike) - so the probability that Yellen says something that goes against what's priced in seems quite high," he said.

Meanwhile, oil prices continued to decline on doubts that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would reach a deal to cut production at a meeting in September.

Reports said that Iraq – OPEC’s second-biggest producer – was set to ramp up its exports. Separately, a Reuters report citing OPEC and oil industry sources said Iran was sending positive signals that it may support joint action to prop up the oil market.

Late this afternoon, West Texas Intermediate was down 3.03% to $47.05 a barrel, while Brent was up 1.4% to $49.85 a barrel.

Royal Dutch Shell's shares were down, having been under pressure most of the day. BP's shares rose. Neither had moved convincingly.

Among corporate stocks, JRP Group surged after saying trading to end-July continued in line with expectations. It continued to be well-capitalised, with its solvency capital II capital ratio standing at roughly 130% as of 30 June. Its merger also continued to progress well.

Kier Group was rising after being awarded three major UK construction frameworks totalling more than £5bn.

Paddy Power Betfair was on the back foot after Investec reiterated a 'Sell' rating and a set a target price of 9,170p, saying this now indicated a potential 6.38% drop from the betting company’s current price of 9,795p.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,868.51 0.59%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,982.50 0.62%
techMARK (TASX) 3,510.30 -0.00%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 877.90p 5.14%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 486.20p 4.90%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,878.00p 4.68%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,078.50p 4.40%
Tesco (TSCO) 166.45p 4.36%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 196.10p 4.20%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 165.20p 4.10%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,649.00p 3.88%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.59p 3.69%
Glencore (GLEN) 189.80p 2.96%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Mediclinic International (MDC) 1,070.00p -1.47%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,040.00p -1.08%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,850.50p -0.79%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 982.00p -0.66%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,062.00p -0.57%
National Grid (NG.) 1,076.00p -0.46%
CRH (CRH) 2,497.00p -0.44%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,877.00p -0.35%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,246.00p -0.32%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,896.00p -0.26%

FTSE 250 - Risers

JRP Group (JRP) 103.10p 16.83%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 191.50p 6.39%
Bellway (BWY) 2,358.00p 6.07%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 140.00p 5.98%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 69.75p 5.28%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,249.00p 5.05%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 237.40p 5.04%
Countrywide (CWD) 257.40p 4.76%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 568.00p 4.70%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 473.60p 3.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Diploma (DPLM) 837.00p -2.39%
Vectura Group (VEC) 140.60p -2.36%
Card Factory (CARD) 275.30p -2.13%
Synthomer (SYNT) 370.10p -1.99%
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,750.00p -1.74%
Rank Group (RNK) 217.80p -1.67%
Dignity (DTY) 2,693.00p -1.64%
Evraz (EVR) 141.30p -1.60%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 301.70p -1.18%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 651.50p -1.14%