London close: Stocks bolstered by upbeat Chinese data

The FTSE 100 closed at its highest level so far this year on Wednesday after positive Chinese data eased worries about the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.

London's top tier index finished up 1.93% to 6,362.89 points, it's highest close since 3 December 2015.

"The last two months have seen a turnaround in fortunes for the UK stock market, after a miserable start to the year," said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdowne. "Strong performance from oil and mining shares has been the key driver of the rebound in the Footsie, on the back of a recovery in commodity prices."

Providing a lift to investor sentiment, China exports rose 11.5% in March year-on-year in dollar terms, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The increase was more than the 10% expected by analysts and compared to a 25.4% drop in February. It also marked the first rise in nine months.

Imports in March fell 7.6%, less than the 10.1% drop expected and following a 13.8% decline in February.

The figures came a day after the International Monetary Fund said China’s slowdown may not be as severe as first thought, revising its economic growth forecasts to 6.5% this year and 6.2% next year, both up two-tenths of a percentage point from the last outlook in January.

In the US, investors shrugged off worse-than-expected retail sales data. The Commerce Department said sales dropped 0.3% in March on the month compared with expectations of a 0.1% increase, as auto sales slumped 2.1%.

“These lingering doubts over retail’s strength may force the Fed to give second thought to the rumoured interest rate hike, which some had speculated could come sooner rather than later,” said Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com.

Meanwhile, oil prices extended losses after US government data showed crude inventories increased by 6.6 million barrels, bringing the total in storage to 536.5 million barrels in the previous week.

The market has also been eagerly awaiting a meeting between global oil producers on Sunday to discuss whether to freeze output to address the oversupply in the sector.

At 1636 BST, Brent crude fell 0.51% to $44.46 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 0.52% to $41.95 per barrel.

In corporate stocks, miners rallied on the upbeat data out of China, the world’s largest consumer of commodities. Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were among the biggest risers on the FTSE 100.

Asia-focused Standard Chartered’s shares also benefitted from the good news from China.

Going the other way, Tesco’s shares dropped after chief executive David Lewis cautioned that the grocer’s focus on investment in the customer offer to cope with the cut-throat UK grocery market will impact profitability particularly in the first half of the year. The company swung to a £162m pre-tax profit that marked a turnaround from the previous year's record £6.3bn loss, but fell short of expectations of £541m.

Shares in Mr Kipling and Oxo owner Premier Foods tumbled as US-based McCormick & Co. said it did not intend to make an offer for the company.

Halfords motored ahead on the back of good full year revenue figures as drivers showed an increasing like for the firms range of dashboard cameras, and bike sales continued to pedal along steadily.

Inchcape jumped after JP Morgan Cazenove reiterated its ‘overweight’ stance on the stock and added it to its European Analyst Focus List as one of its highest conviction OW calls.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,362.89 1.93%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,047.96 1.50%
techMARK (TASX) 3,176.48 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 709.30p 11.05%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 520.90p 10.66%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 882.80p 9.18%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,245.00p 7.60%
Barclays (BARC) 166.80p 7.16%
Glencore (GLEN) 158.50p 6.70%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 448.10p 6.67%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 230.70p 6.41%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 469.00p 5.04%
Prudential (PRU) 1,404.00p 4.39%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Tesco (TSCO) 180.80p -7.90%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 197.20p -1.99%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,775.00p -1.24%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,745.50p -1.15%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,008.00p -0.59%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 954.50p -0.57%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,232.00p -0.49%
SABMiller (SAB) 4,225.50p -0.33%
SSE (SSE) 1,516.00p -0.33%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,259.00p -0.32%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Evraz (EVR) 121.10p 11.82%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 224.60p 11.02%
Halfords Group (HFD) 423.30p 9.66%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 295.00p 6.96%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 279.10p 6.20%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 318.00p 5.58%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 263.70p 5.10%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 170.40p 4.99%
Inchcape (INCH) 716.50p 4.60%
Bodycote (BOY) 616.50p 4.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 911.50p -4.40%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 297.50p -4.28%
Booker Group (BOK) 166.40p -2.12%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,174.00p -1.59%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 272.00p -1.45%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,779.00p -1.44%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 288.80p -1.16%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,554.00p -1.15%
Allied Minds (ALM) 380.10p -1.02%
NB Global Floating Rate Income Fund Ltd GBP (NBLS) 91.05p -0.98%