London close: BP leads UK stocks higher, but other markets slip

Decent gains from blue chips BP and Dixons Carphone helped UK markets to rise on Thursday, bucking the negative trend seen across Europe as investors started to trim positions ahead of a pivotal weekend for Greece.

With Greece confirming its intention to hold a referendum on Sunday, and the country's creditors refusing to discuss a bailout proposal until after the public vote takes place, there was little to lift sentiment during the session.

However, UK markets were given a boost by a strong reading of UK construction activity, lifting the FTSE 100 21.88 points higher (+0.33%) by the end of the session to 6,630.47.

The UK construction sector bounced back in June, according to a higher-than-expected reading of the purchasing managers’ index from Markit/CIPS. June's PMI reading came in at 58.1, higher than the 56.5 consensus forecast and up from 55.9 from May.

After a brief stint in positive territory, New York stocks were trading lower by the close in Europe as US investors showed caution ahead of a bank holiday on Friday as the States holds its Fourth of July celebrations.

A jobs report also dampened the mood on Wall Street after revealing that 223,000 US non-farm payrolls were added in June, missing the 233,000 figure expected by analysts, after a downwardly-revised 254,000 in May. Nevertheless, the US jobless rate fell more than expected to 5.3% from 5.5%, under the consensus forecast of 5.4%. Wage growth was also flat.

"The rally in stocks following the jobs report was swiftly used as a chance to lighten up exposure to equities before the Greek vote during the long US holiday weekend," said analyst Jasper Lawler from CMC Markets UK.

BP leads the rise

BP led the index higher after a robust rally after agreeing to pay an $18.7bn settlement over its 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Dixons Carphone also rose strongly after entering into an agreement with Sprint Corp to open and manage a significant number of Sprint-branded stores in the US.

Miners Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were lifted as metal prices tentatively recovered from a three-day decline.

Product testing outfit Intertek was out of favour after Jefferies lowered its stance on the shares to ‘underperform’ and cut its target price from 2,400p to 2,100p.

ITV was in the red after Ofcom’s public service broadcaster review deemed that the regulation of re-transmission fees in the UK, which ITV has called for, would be ‘complicated’.

A number of blue chips were trading in the red after going ex-dividend, including Babcock, Burberry, Coca-Cola and Royal Mail.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,134.23 +0.18%
FTSE 100 6,630.47 +0.33%
FTSE 250 17,686.02 -0.18%

FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 437.40p +4.35%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 411.00p +2.04%
National Grid (NG.) 833.50p +1.93%
SSE (SSE) 1,564.00p +1.69%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,190.00p +1.69%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,053.50p +1.40%
Centrica (CNA) 267.10p +1.25%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 464.50p +1.24%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 578.00p +1.24%
Glencore (GLEN) 255.75p +1.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,059.00p -3.81%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,383.00p -3.21%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 489.20p -2.65%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,140.00p -2.48%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,037.00p -2.45%
Royal Mail (RMG) 506.50p -2.13%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,559.00p -2.01%
Sage Group (SGE) 510.50p -1.83%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,043.00p -1.70%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,597.00p -1.67%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Serco Group (SRP) 130.80p +10.85%
BTG (BTG) 686.00p +9.24%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 171.00p +9.06%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,291.00p +5.04%
Ted Baker (TED) 3,060.00p +4.94%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,069.00p +4.50%
Drax Group (DRX) 363.80p +4.48%
Redrow (RDW) 461.20p +4.13%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 479.40p +4.01%
Playtech (PTEC) 850.00p +3.85%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Evraz (EVR) 113.90p -7.55%
Hunting (HTG) 572.00p -6.23%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 264.10p -5.00%
Lonmin (LMI) 106.50p -4.83%
ICAP (IAP) 504.00p -4.82%
AO World (AO.) 138.40p -4.35%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 291.00p -3.61%
Homeserve (HSV) 426.00p -3.25%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 229.90p -2.95%
Alent (ALNT) 362.80p -2.68%