London midday: Stocks rise as BoE leaves policy unchanged

London shares rose on Thursday as the Bank of England decided to keep policy measures unchanged.

At 1208 GMT the FTSE 100 rose 0.17% to 6,951.35.

The Bank voted unanimously to leave interest rates at 0.25% and the asset purchase programme at £435bn, a move that was widely expected by analysts.

In other UK news, retail sales growth slowed in November from the previous month’s 14-year high as an increase in fuel prices offset strong Black Friday sales.

Retail sales, including fuel, rose 5.9% compared to the same month a year ago, slowing from October’s 7.2% annualised rise, the Office for National Statistics said. The decline was in line with expectations.

On the month retail sales climbed 0.2% compared with a 1.8% rise in October, beating forecasts for flat sales.

Excluding fuel, retail sales growth eased to 6.6% in November from 7.5% in October, although it was better than the 6.0% gain expected by analysts.

Month-on-month retail sales, excluding fuel, edged up 0.5% in November following a 1.9% gain in October. Economists had expected flat sales.

“Despite the fairly subdued monthly growth in UK retail sales in November, the sector should still provide strong support to GDP growth in the fourth quarter,” said Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics.

Still to come, a batch of US data will be released in afternoon trade including inflation figures at 1330 GMT, initial jobless claims at 1330 GMT and manufacturing PMI at 1445 GMT.

Meanwhile, investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time in a year on Wednesday. The action sent the dollar higher against other major currencies.

The stronger dollar hit oil prices but crude has since recovered with Brent crude up 0.90% to $54.39 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.50% to $51.30 per barrel at 1141 GMT.

In corporate news, British Gas owner Centrica pushed up after lifting its earnings outlook for the full-year.

GVC Holdings rallied as the FTSE 250 sports betting and gaming group said it expects pro-forma net gaming revenue for the year to the end of December and adjusted earnings to be at the upper end of forecasts.

A gauge of mining shares slumped as gold fell to its lowest level in more than 10 months, down 4% to $1,128 on the Comex due to a stronger dollar following the Fed’s rate announcement. Silver prices also plunged 5.87% to $16.21 while copper was down 0.61% to $258 and platinum was down 1.31% to $912.

Fresnillo, Randgold Resources and Polymetal International were among the top fallers.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,959.36 0.15%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,663.82 -0.10%
techMARK (TASX) 3,315.96 0.56%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Centrica (CNA) 229.50p 4.84%
Barclays (BARC) 227.90p 2.77%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 445.20p 2.60%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,537.00p 2.58%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 223.00p 2.58%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,649.00p 2.24%
Carnival (CCL) 4,135.00p 2.22%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,530.00p 2.14%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,519.50p 1.98%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 63.87p 1.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,055.00p -10.59%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,445.00p -8.33%
Polymetal International (POLY) 758.50p -5.83%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,057.00p -3.49%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,161.50p -3.41%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 698.50p -3.12%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,313.50p -3.10%
Glencore (GLEN) 271.55p -2.86%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 726.50p -2.42%
Old Mutual (OML) 189.00p -2.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers

GVC Holdings (GVC) 647.00p 5.20%
CYBG (CYBG) 280.30p 3.43%
Playtech (PTEC) 793.00p 3.39%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,321.00p 2.56%
Alliance Trust (ATST) 611.00p 2.43%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 86.65p 2.36%
Aggreko (AGK) 896.50p 2.28%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,882.00p 2.01%
Drax Group (DRX) 325.20p 1.98%
PayPoint (PAY) 896.00p 1.93%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Acacia Mining (ACA) 352.90p -11.20%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 117.60p -9.89%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 229.90p -5.39%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 863.50p -5.11%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 375.90p -4.18%
Marston's (MARS) 133.70p -4.02%
NCC Group (NCC) 177.10p -4.01%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 896.50p -3.91%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 345.00p -3.28%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 284.50p -3.03%