London close: FTSE gains as miners rally on China data

London stocks ended firmly in the black on Friday with miners pacing the advance after data revealed a slowdown in Chinese inflation.

The FTSE 100 ended the session 1.23% or 89.01 points higher at 7,351.07

Although markets remained open after the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, it is expected that the day of her funeral - likely to be 19 September - will be a public holiday, so markets will be closed.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England said it will delay its next interest rate decision by a week following the Queen's death.

"In light of the period of national mourning now being observed in the United Kingdom, the September 2022 meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee has been postponed for a period of one week," it said.

The Bank is expected to lift rates by between 50 and 75 basis points at it looks to tackle surging inflation.

IG market analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "UK investors will no doubt be feeling somewhat conflicted given the current events, and the BoE has followed the lead set by other institutions by postponing its rate increase. But otherwise it is very much business as usual, and next week will still see a significant focus on the UK with CPI and employment data, although it is unlikely to provide a real change in trend for sterling, which still looks to be on a downward path against the dollar.

"Investors have put the ECB hike and Powell’s warning about more rate increases firmly behind them, and the rally of the past two days has gathered strength. While the broader bear market most likely has further to run, it looks like the next bear market rally has also kicked into action. This provides scope for some significant short-term upside in stocks, although traders will probably only stick around for a while, and investors should be careful not to jump in too quickly or too enthusiastically."

On the macro front, figures released earlier by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that inflation in China slowed in August amid weak demand.

Consumer price inflation declined to 2.5% on the year from 2.7% in July, coming in below consensus expectations of 2.8%. This was driven by a moderation in food price inflation, which dropped to 6.1% from 6.3%.

Meanwhile, producer price inflation fell to 2.3% in August from 4.2% a month earlier, versus consensus expectations of 3.1%. It marked the slowed pace since February 2021.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, came in at 0.8%, in line with July.

Capital Economics said: "Consumer price inflation fell in August and remains below the People’s Bank of China’s preferred ceiling of 3%, leaving room for the Bank to ease policy further.

"Meanwhile, producer price inflation declined to its lowest in 18 months. We expect both inflation measures to continue falling over the rest of the year."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were the top performers on the FTSE 100 as copper prices rallied and as investors mulled the better-than-expected Chinese data, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all higher.

Bridgepoint shares tumbled, however, after the FTSE Russell said it had decided not to increase the weighing of its shares in its indices. Shares in Bridgepoint had rallied last week in anticipation of index inclusion.

IT services firm Computacenter also lost ground as it posted a drop in interim profits.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,351.07 1.23%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,188.03 1.64%
techMARK (TASX) 4,299.95 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Centrica (CNA) 86.90p 4.98%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,926.50p 4.72%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,195.50p 3.87%
Glencore (GLEN) 488.40p 3.66%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 479.40p 3.65%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 614.00p 3.61%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,866.00p 3.16%
WPP (WPP) 771.20p 3.10%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,938.00p 3.09%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 837.60p 3.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Avast (AVST) 716.60p -0.50%
BAE Systems (BA.) 784.40p -0.38%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 126.10p -0.20%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,500.00p -0.11%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 526.90p -0.10%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,004.00p 0.00%
Meggitt (MGGT) 798.60p 0.00%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 10,235.00p 0.20%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 78.70p 0.20%
Haleon (HLN) 261.00p 0.33%

FTSE 250 - Risers

National Express Group (NEX) 187.50p 12.88%
Darktrace (DARK) 379.20p 12.49%
Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 432.00p 8.00%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 156.10p 7.14%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 118.90p 5.88%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 482.80p 5.71%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,750.00p 5.66%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 63.00p 5.35%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 871.00p 5.32%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 142.00p 5.19%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 259.00p -14.63%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,182.00p -11.44%
Vistry Group (VTY) 801.00p -2.50%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 431.20p -2.00%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,792.00p -1.32%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 72.50p -1.09%
Premier Foods (PFD) 105.40p -0.95%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 334.00p -0.89%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 238.00p -0.83%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 320.40p -0.80%