London midday: Stocks gain as Powell comments soothe jitters
London stocks were still firmly in the black by midday on Wednesday as investors welcomed less hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,546.13.
In a testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Powell offered reassurances that the US central bank could trigger rate hikes to rein in inflation without harming the economic recovery
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Volatility is down, equities are up. Investors look to be regaining their confidence after a choppy start to 2022 with all the main indices across Europe and Asia pushing ahead, following a similar performance on Wall Street last night.
"Driving confidence were remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell that the central bank would do everything it could to stop inflation running out of control.
"Risk appetite appears to have returned given how more stodgy companies like BT, Reckitt Benckiser and Imperial Brands were among the fallers on the FTSE. Instead, investors were more interested in bidding up some of the tech plays which have been beaten up recently, including Scottish Mortgage.
"Also in vogue were a slew of consumer-facing companies riding high after upbeat trading statements. These included Sainsbury’s which upgraded its profit guidance, and Whitbread which said it continued to trade ahead of the market."
Looking ahead to the rest of the day, investors will be eyeing the latest US inflation figures at 1330 GMT.
In equity markets, miners were the standout gainers as metals prices rose, with BHP, Antofagasta, Rio, Glencore and Anglo American all higher.
Sainsbury’s was up after the supermarket group raised full-year profit forecasts despite a fall in underlying sales over Christmas.
Premier Inn owner Whitbread rallied as it hailed a resilient third-quarter performance in the UK despite the emergence of the Omicron variant, but said trading in pubs and restaurants remained more challenging.
Dunelm advanced as the homewares retailer upped annual profit guidance after a record performance in the 13 weeks to Christmas, driven by online sales and higher margins.
Savills pushed higher after saying its full-year performance was "very significantly" ahead of expectations following an "extraordinarily strong" final trading period since its last update in November.
Grafton gained as the building materials distributor and DIY retailer upgraded its full-year operating profit expectations after a positive end to the year.
On the downside, housebuilders Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey were both under the cosh after share placings.
JD Sports ticked a smidgen lower even as it lifted annual profits guidance after revenues rose 10% in the 22 weeks to January 1 and US fiscal stimulus boosted trading.
Jupiter Fund Management was weaker after a downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,546.13 0.73%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,100.24 0.31%
techMARK (TASX) 4,510.53 0.21%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 3,364.00p 3.86%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,393.50p 3.84%
BHP Group (BHP) 2,358.00p 3.72%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 289.10p 3.51%
Glencore (GLEN) 399.85p 3.11%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,720.00p 2.58%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,436.00p 2.55%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,226.00p 2.51%
BP (BP.) 378.60p 2.44%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,797.80p 2.17%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 164.55p -3.18%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 689.60p -2.74%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,160.00p -2.52%
BT Group (BT.A) 173.60p -2.00%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,564.00p -1.81%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,637.00p -1.60%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,814.00p -1.26%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,470.00p -1.12%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,650.00p -1.05%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 304.80p -0.91%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Savills (SVS) 1,405.00p 6.44%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,417.00p 5.75%
Darktrace (DARK) 441.60p 4.64%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 316.80p 4.62%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,298.00p 4.17%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 227.00p 4.13%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 325.00p 3.34%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 199.50p 3.10%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 287.40p 3.08%
Volution Group (FAN) 509.00p 2.83%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 153.40p -6.46%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 37.93p -5.15%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 247.80p -4.55%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 929.00p -3.08%
Vistry Group (VTY) 1,129.50p -2.88%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 249.00p -2.54%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 339.50p -2.16%
Beazley (BEZ) 474.90p -2.10%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,103.00p -1.96%
Redrow (RDW) 647.60p -1.91%