London midday: Stocks maintain gains as miners advance

London stocks were still firmer by midday on Monday, with miners pacing the advance as sentiment was boosted by a further easing of Covid restrictions in Beijing and Shanghai, and as investors scaled back Federal Reserve rate hike expectations.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,251.13.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The burst of global enthusiasm for equities has put a spring in the step of the FTSE 100 at the start of the week. US indices surged on Friday, helping set a positive pace for Asian stocks as optimism lifts slightly that central banks may finally be getting a handle on inflation. That hope is offsetting continuing concerns that the rapid withdrawal of cheap money and an intensifying cost-of-living crisis could trigger recessions.

"Miners have started on the front foot, helped by the plans for a potential $600 billion global infrastructure boost, which was unveiled at the G7 summit. It’s hoped this scheme, seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, will set off a spurt of spending and demand for commodities around the world, triggered by the $200 billion pledged by the US. But there are already some concerns about the watering down of commitments amid escalating costs of some planned projects due to inflationary pressures.

"Concerns about inflation aren’t likely to go away any time soon given that the clamour for higher wages is getting louder from workers in sectors across the board. A summer of strikes has begun, severely disrupting services with knock-on effects for supply chains and the pandemic recovery. Industrial action on the British and French train networks is looming, and more flights are set to be disrupted due to walk outs of Ryanair cabin crew in Belgium, Spain and Portugal and British Airways staff at Heathrow."

In equity markets, miners were the standout performers, with Anglo American, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta all sharply higher.

Elsewhere, consumer goods and healthcare company PZ Cussons rose after saying it expected annual group revenue of around £590m with like-for-like growth of 3%. The maker of Imperial Leather soap said growth was driven by price/mix as it maintained full-year profits guidance.

Cruise operator Carnival also continued to gain following a well-received second-quarter update at the end of last week.

On the downside, online supermarket Ocado was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse.

Biffa fell as it delayed the release of its full-year results after auditor Deloitte requested additional time to complete its audit procedures in relation to the company’s ongoing landfill tax enquiry.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,251.13 0.59%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,335.72 1.11%
techMARK (TASX) 4,339.74 0.40%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 3,170.00p 3.39%
Glencore (GLEN) 460.35p 3.16%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,128.00p 2.99%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,218.00p 2.83%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 752.40p 2.65%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 83.07p 2.63%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,520.00p 2.23%
Fresnillo (FRES) 803.40p 2.08%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 362.30p 2.03%
Centrica (CNA) 82.80p 2.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Abrdn (ABDN) 167.85p -1.81%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 857.80p -1.47%
BT Group (BT.A) 186.35p -1.14%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,712.00p -0.59%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 136.90p -0.58%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 547.00p -0.55%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 535.10p -0.41%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 2,836.50p -0.33%
Sage Group (SGE) 645.20p -0.19%
GSK (GSK) 1,753.00p -0.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 473.00p 5.58%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 616.00p 4.41%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 1,664.00p 4.13%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,040.00p 4.10%
Molten Ventures (GROW) 462.00p 4.10%
Darktrace (DARK) 347.60p 3.67%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 654.00p 3.65%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,338.00p 3.56%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 144.90p 3.50%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,110.00p 3.43%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 156.20p -2.68%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 123.20p -2.07%
Energean (ENOG) 1,137.00p -1.39%
Biffa (BIFF) 401.40p -1.38%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 306.40p -1.16%
Drax Group (DRX) 648.00p -0.99%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 4,385.00p -0.57%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 142.00p -0.56%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 829.50p -0.54%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 1,079.00p -0.46%