London midday: Stocks push higher as pound regains some poise

London stocks extended gains by midday on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 edging towards its recent record high, although a bigger rise was limited by the pound regaining some poise and miners retreating.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% to 7,558.90, while the FTSE 250 was down one point at just over 19,990.

Meanwhile, the pound was down 0.1% versus the dollar at 1.2842, off the lows hit after a YouGov poll published in The Times suggested Theresa May could fail to win an outright majority in the election. According to the poll, the Conservatives could lose as many as 20 of the 330 seats they held in the last parliament, while Labour could gain nearly 30.

This followed on from an ICM/Guardian poll earlier that gave the Tories a 12-point lead over Labour, down two points in the last week but bigger than the six-point lead suggested by the YouGov poll.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Recent polls have clearly been moving in favour of often maligned Jeremy Corbyn, with the latest YouGov survey pointing towards a distinct chance that we could see the Tories fail to maintain an outright majority. What was once portrayed as an opportunity to provide a stronger hand for Brexit negotiations is beginning to look like a nightmare which could add greater complexity to the already complicated process of negotiations.

"Perhaps more worrying for the City is the prospect of an anti-business candidate coming into power at a time that we are realigning our economy to ensure that the negative impact of Brexit is minimised and the benefits of increased global trade are maximised."

On the data front, UK mortgage approval numbers continued to fall in April, according to data from the Bank of England that also showed the lowest net consumer lending in a year.

Banks approved 64,645k mortgages for house purchases compared to just over 66,000 the month before, at level which was expected to endure due to a sharp fall in the same month last year. Remortgage lending also fell, to 40,575 from 42,250, with cooling house prices increasingly exerting a weight on the market.

April's net consumer credit remained at around £1.5bn, though net lending secured on dwellings declined to £2.7bn, the lowest since April last year.

Net lending to individuals fell to £4.3bn from £4.7bn, when the consensus forecast had been for it to hit around the £4.5bn mark.

The Bank noted that net lending flows to private non-financial corporations also hit its lowest level in a year at £1.0bn.

On the money supply, the M4 definition that measures all the sterling in circulation, encompassing notes and coins as well as money held in bank accounts but excludes intermediate and other financial corporations, increased by 1.2% month on month in April, much more than the 0.4% expected after the 0.3% rise in March.

Elsewhere, the latest survey from GfK showed UK consumer confidence surprisingly improved marginally in May, rising to -5 from -7 the month before. The market had expected it to worsen to -8 as inflation and low wage growth increase the pressure on households.

Heavily-weighted miners kept a cap on gains, with Rio Tinto, Glencore, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Antofagasta all weaker amid falling iron ore prices.

Morrisons and Sainsbury's were both in positive territory, but Tesco slipped after data from Kantar Worldpanel showed supermarkets enjoyed their strongest period of trading in over three and a half years but that the 'big four', including Asda, lost market share to fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl. In the 12 weeks ending 21 May 2017, grocery inflation of 2.9% helped to boost overall sector sales by 3.8% year on year.

IG Group was in the black as it said revenue and profits for its fiscal year would be ahead of the previous year. It now expects to report full year revenue around 7% higher than in 2016, though after a fall in the third quarter this is down from the 14% increase in net trading revenue seen in the first half of the year.

LondonMetric was also trading higher as it announced the acquisition of three urban logistics warehouses and said net rental income in the year to 31 March rose 5% to £82m.

NEX Group recovered from earlier losses to trade flat as it announced that Stuart Bridges has stepped down as chief financial officer and will be leaving the company later in the year. He will be succeeded by Samantha Wren, the current chief commercial officer for NEX Markets, who will join the board with immediate effect.

Payments processor Worldpay was hit by a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Barclays.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,558.90 0.43%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,012.41 0.10%
techMARK (TASX) 3,634.19 0.36%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 744.00p 2.41%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 8,078.00p 1.92%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,426.00p 1.86%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 801.00p 1.46%
Diageo (DGE) 2,356.50p 1.44%
Pearson (PSON) 710.00p 1.43%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,811.00p 1.40%
Relx plc (REL) 1,675.00p 1.39%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 526.50p 1.35%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,366.00p 1.30%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,118.50p -2.03%
Glencore (GLEN) 286.15p -2.00%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,179.50p -1.91%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,950.00p -1.79%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,038.50p -1.66%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 801.00p -1.05%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,569.00p -1.01%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,513.00p -0.83%
Worldpay Group (WPG) 313.00p -0.79%
ITV (ITV) 197.40p -0.75%

FTSE 250 - Risers

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 569.50p 2.89%
Capita (CPI) 583.00p 2.82%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 507.50p 2.82%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 164.60p 2.17%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 315.00p 2.07%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,849.00p 1.99%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 185.80p 1.92%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 346.40p 1.88%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 302.60p 1.78%
Ibstock (IBST) 247.20p 1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 173.70p -4.87%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 622.00p -4.09%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 382.70p -3.41%
Hunting (HTG) 521.00p -3.34%
Nex Group (NXG) 652.50p -3.26%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 720.50p -2.64%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 119.80p -2.28%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 493.20p -2.24%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 188.80p -2.02%
William Hill (WMH) 286.10p -2.02%