London midday: Stocks push higher after heavy losses; Glencore rallies

London stocks had shaken off a lacklustre start to trade firmly higher by midday on Friday as investors stepped in to pick up some bargains after heavy losses in the previous session, although fears of a recession continued to weigh on the mood.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 7,107.45, recovering from sharp falls on Thursday amid a global selloff. Sentiment took a hit after the US Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by 75 basis points - its biggest hike since 1994 - and after the Swiss National Bank surprised markets by increasing rates for the first time in 15 years.

Also on Thursday, the Bank of England lifted rates by 25 basis points to a 13-year high of 1.25%, although this was less aggressive than the 50 bps many had started to price in in recent days.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "A flurry of rate rises around the world in Taiwan, Switzerland, Hungary and the UK prompted fresh uneasy sentiment, particularly the warning from the Bank of England that inflation is set to soar to 11% this Autumn.

"The knot of worry about the tricky economic times ahead isn’t likely to go away any time soon. Sterling is falling back again against the dollar after rising from its dip to below $1.20 hit this week. It’s still trading around two year lows at $1.22, as worries about the fragility of the UK economy, combined with political uncertainty hover.’"

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were a drag, with Rio, Antofagasta and Anglo American all weaker. Glencore bucked the trend, however, following an upbeat trading update.

Supermarket chain Tesco reversed earlier losses to trade up after saying it was seeing early indications of changing customer behaviour as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and inflationary environment as it reported a fall in first quarter sales. The company said UK like-for-like sales for the three months to May 28 fell 1.5% to £9.8bn. On a group basis sales were up 2%, boosted by a strong performance at its Booker division, where revenue rose 19.4% to £2bn.

Future gained as the media company reiterated that it was on track to achieve full-year 2022 guidance.

Playtech also gained as the gambling software maker said that the UK Takeover Panel had extended the deadline for Asia-based investment group TTB Partners to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away. Playtech said talks between the two were ongoing and progress was being made.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,107.45 0.89%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,029.31 1.61%
techMARK (TASX) 4,216.86 1.39%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 705.60p 5.22%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 826.00p 4.90%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,411.50p 4.09%
Sage Group (SGE) 619.00p 3.93%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 106.90p 3.89%
Next (NXT) 5,980.00p 3.75%
Royal Mail (RMG) 279.70p 3.59%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,649.00p 3.44%
Informa (INF) 535.00p 3.36%
Diageo (DGE) 3,541.50p 3.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 789.60p -3.40%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,321.00p -2.26%
BP (BP.) 397.85p -1.62%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,306.00p -1.47%
Shell (SHEL) 2,114.00p -1.40%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,200.00p -0.74%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,421.50p -0.74%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 361.30p -0.66%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,040.50p -0.43%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,850.00p -0.42%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 528.60p 12.78%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 90.80p 8.74%
Future (FUTR) 1,660.00p 7.03%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 153.30p 6.53%
Currys (CURY) 74.00p 5.64%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,008.00p 5.61%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 201.00p 5.46%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 216.00p 5.37%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 159.00p 5.02%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,410.00p 4.83%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,730.00p -1.93%
Energean (ENOG) 1,253.00p -1.88%
Ibstock (IBST) 174.60p -1.63%
Darktrace (DARK) 313.00p -1.51%
Assura (AGR) 67.25p -1.39%
Centrica (CNA) 75.74p -1.20%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 663.00p -1.19%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 259.00p -1.15%
Marshalls (MSLH) 474.60p -1.04%
Jlen Environmental Assets Group Limited NPV (JLEN) 121.60p -0.98%