London midday: FTSE turns higher but gains unspectacular as China boost fades

London stocks had popped into the black by midday on Wednesday, with Rentokil leading the charge, but gains were unspectacular as the boost from China’s latest stimulus measures faded.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,300.87.

Earlier in the day, China's central bank slashed it medium-term lending facility from 2.3% to 2.0%, marking the largest reduction of interest rates for one-year loans to financial institutions in history.

Just one day after unveiling a list of measures designed to stimulate demand and put the economic recovery back on track, the People's Bank of China said it was also lending 300bn yuan ($43bn) to financial institutions.

The move, which was widely expected following comments from PBoC governor Pan Gongsheng the previous day, follows a raft of cuts to reserve requirements and lending rates, including for existing home loans.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "With a lack of major economic news on the schedule for Wednesday and only a few big-name corporates reporting results, investors might be taking stock of events and working out their strategy for the months ahead.

"There continues to be a lot of noise helping to pull asset prices one way or another, but the key is staying focused."

On home shores, investors were digesting an upgrade of the UK’s growth outlook by the OECD. In the organisation’s latest outlook on the world economy, it said the UK was on track to grow 1.1% this year, up 0.7 percentage points on its forecast in May.

In equity markets, Rentokil Initial was the top riser on the FTSE 100 after it announced the appointment of a partner at Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management to its board as a non-executive director. The company said that Brian Baldwin - head of research at Trian - has been appointed with effect from 1 October.

EasyJet flew higher as JPMorgan Cazenove highlighted the stock as "a high conviction" ‘overweight’ in the low-cost carrier space, "where the shares are flat this year despite more resilient pricing (and earnings) than peers". JPM said it currently sees a "cleaner" pathway to high earnings growth in September 2025.

Property platform Rightmove fell after saying it had rejected a third, £6.1bn takeover offer from Australian outfit REA Group, saying it “materially undervalues the company and its future prospects”.

REA’s latest cash-and-shares proposal, equivalent to an offer price of 759p, was a 37% premium to Rightmove’s share price on 30 August, the day before the first offer. However, as Rightmove pointed out, since that time REA’s own share price has dropped by 12%, essentially bringing the offer price down.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,300.87 0.22%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,812.55 0.20%
techMARK (TASX) 4,785.22 0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 374.80p 3.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 615.50p 2.75%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,758.00p 1.91%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,083.00p 1.77%
Halma (HLMA) 2,597.00p 1.45%
BT Group (BT.A) 151.70p 1.44%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,577.00p 1.42%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,164.00p 1.41%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,446.00p 1.37%
Beazley (BEZ) 772.50p 1.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Prudential (PRU) 651.20p -2.05%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 454.00p -1.30%
Entain (ENT) 740.60p -1.07%
Rightmove (RMV) 675.80p -1.05%
Sage Group (SGE) 1,017.50p -0.78%
National Grid (NG.) 1,037.50p -0.67%
WPP (WPP) 760.60p -0.63%
Centrica (CNA) 118.85p -0.63%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,319.00p -0.60%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,042.00p -0.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 150.80p 6.35%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 389.30p 4.88%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 736.00p 3.52%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 418.80p 3.05%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 55.20p 2.99%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,350.00p 2.43%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 203.60p 2.26%
Quilter (QLT) 132.60p 2.00%
Ninety One (N91) 169.20p 1.99%
Essentra (ESNT) 153.20p 1.86%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

SThree (STEM) 366.00p -2.40%
Harworth Group (HWG) 187.50p -1.57%
Just Group (JUST) 139.60p -1.55%
Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 666.00p -1.48%
Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 536.00p -1.47%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 157.70p -1.38%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,110.00p -1.35%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,568.00p -1.13%
JTC (JTC) 1,060.00p -1.12%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 415.00p -1.00%