London midday: Stocks push up as investors mull earnings news

London stocks had extended gains by midday on Wednesday as investors sifted through a raft of earnings news, with positive updates from the likes of CRH and Qinetiq helping to lift the mood.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,633.16.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Stocks staged something of a relief rally, despite the unravelling earnings season providing mixed messages.

"Although still early in the season, there are contrasting factors at play, with an estimated 80% of companies so far exceeding expectations. The airlines provided a positive surprise following a return to travel demand, while the likes of Johnson & Johnson also beat estimates. However, following on from lacklustre numbers from the banks last week, there were also some misses, most notably from Netflix.

"Subscriber numbers declined for the first time in a decade amid intensifying competition and following some widespread cost increases passed on to an increasingly squeezed consumer. With further falls predicted, the shares tumbled by over 20% after the bell.

"Meanwhile, the general consensus remains rooted to the likelihood of the Federal Reserve ratcheting up the pressure on inflation with higher than expected interest rate rises."

In equity markets, building materials group CRH rallied as it reported a positive start to the year, with group like-for-like sales up 13% in the first quarter and first-half sales, EBITDA and margin set to be ahead of the prior year.

Qinetiq gained after the defence engineer lifted annual earnings guidance as strong order intake boosted revenues.

Investment company Petershill Partners rose after it said that maiden results were ahead of expectations at the IPO.

Just Eat racked up strong gains after saying it was considering the partial or full sale of GrubHub as it reported a dip in first-quarter orders and cut its full-year guidance.

On the downside, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto lost ground after it reported lower-than-expected iron ore shipments in the first quarter as it warned of inflationary risk, a resurgence of Covid lockdowns in China and the impact of a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war. Miners in general were weaker as copper prices fell.

Centamin lost its shine after the gold miner said production fell in the first quarter, as planned.

Oxford Biomedica slid after it said 2022 revenues were set to be lower on the year due to a pause in vaccine manufacturing.

Petropavlovsk was also down after Gazprombank demanded a $300m loan repayment from the gold miner, which has operations in Russia.

Quilter - formerly Old Mutual - was in the red after it posted a 4% dip in first-quarter assets under management.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,633.16 0.42%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,033.54 0.34%
techMARK (TASX) 4,415.00 0.15%

FTSE 100 - Risers

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,176.00p 4.58%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,728.00p 2.96%
SSE (SSE) 1,837.00p 2.91%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 46.67p 2.85%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,659.50p 2.79%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 124.45p 2.47%
Experian (EXPN) 2,774.00p 2.32%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 8,688.00p 2.21%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,474.50p 2.18%
Entain (ENT) 1,607.50p 2.13%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,960.00p -2.96%
ITV (ITV) 72.68p -2.10%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,121.50p -1.88%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 127.98p -1.84%
Anglo American (AAL) 4,089.00p -1.59%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,049.00p -1.54%
Tesco (TSCO) 266.20p -1.52%
Fresnillo (FRES) 784.00p -1.51%
Glencore (GLEN) 527.80p -1.46%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,762.00p -1.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 403.60p 5.05%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 275.50p 4.16%
Trainline (TRN) 288.20p 4.01%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 858.00p 3.87%
JTC (JTC) 739.00p 3.65%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 174.90p 3.09%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 158.40p 2.86%
Volution Group (FAN) 416.50p 2.84%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,617.00p 2.67%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,755.00p 2.60%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 573.00p -10.33%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 89.64p -7.89%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 133.20p -3.34%
888 Holdings (888) 207.60p -3.08%
Quilter (QLT) 141.25p -2.89%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 188.80p -2.88%
SSP Group (SSPG) 224.80p -1.88%
UK Commercial Property Reit Limited (UKCM) 91.80p -1.71%
Savills (SVS) 1,077.00p -1.64%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 247.00p -1.59%