London midday: Stocks rise as manufacturing data beats forecasts

London stocks rose on Wednesday after better-than-expected data on manufacturing and industrial production.

Manufacturing production in January fell 0.1% compared to a year ago and rose 0.7% compared to a month ago, beating forecasts for a 0.7% year-on-year drop and a 0.2% month-on-month increase.

Industrial production increased 0.2% in January on the year, ahead of analysts’ estimates for zero growth. However, month-on-month figures were worse than expectations for a 0.4% rise, climbing 0.3%.

“For a much-maligned sector it was a welcome relief, especially given last week’s woeful PMI, even if the report wasn’t unequivocally good news, the mining and energy sectors continuing to struggle,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

In another lift to equities, oil prices rallied with Brent crude up 1.5% to $40.28 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 1.4% to $37.02 per barrel ta 1140 GMT.

A report on US crude oil inventories from the Department of Energy at 1530 GMT will be closely scrutinised amid concerns about the supply glut.

In company news, Prudential shares surged after it posted an annual pre-tax profit of £4bn, up 22% on the previous year, boosted by strong performances at its British, US and Asian life insurance businesses.

Ashtead slumped after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘outperform’ and slashed the price target to 770p from 1,300p.

The Restaurant Group was under the cosh after saying 2015 like-for-like sales faltered as the challenging trading conditions from the end of last year continue into 2016 and look set to linger for longer.

DS Smith rallied after saying in a trading update that volumes and financial returns continue to grow despite ongoing challenging market conditions.

Cairn Energy jumped as it said it was "delighted" with the results of a second successful test well out of three drilled offshore Senegal, with oil flowing at rates that bode well for the wider field.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,155.61 0.49%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,613.69 -0.24%
techMARK (TASX) 3,104.98 0.12%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 146.15p 4.58%
Prudential (PRU) 1,384.00p 4.33%
Schroders (SDR) 2,693.00p 2.05%
Capita (CPI) 1,050.00p 2.04%
SSE (SSE) 1,462.00p 1.88%
Kingfisher (KGF) 350.50p 1.83%
DCC (DCC) 5,710.00p 1.78%
Standard Life (SL.) 359.60p 1.67%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,986.00p 1.63%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,567.00p 1.50%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,373.00p -6.09%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 835.00p -3.08%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,135.00p -2.54%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 524.00p -2.33%
Fresnillo (FRES) 903.50p -1.47%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 274.80p -1.08%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 815.40p -0.73%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,134.00p -0.70%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,039.00p -0.69%
GKN (GKN) 284.10p -0.66%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Cairn Energy (CNE) 184.60p 8.84%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 211.80p 2.82%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,666.00p 2.78%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,807.00p 2.55%
UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 81.20p 2.07%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,640.00p 2.01%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 320.20p 1.97%
Henderson Group (HGG) 247.60p 1.85%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 316.40p 1.83%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 277.80p 1.83%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Restaurant Group (RTN) 447.30p -17.62%
G4S (GFS) 187.50p -11.85%
SIG (SHI) 133.60p -7.67%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 273.30p -5.76%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 88.00p -5.68%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 239.10p -5.12%
Evraz (EVR) 90.10p -4.86%
Diploma (DPLM) 710.00p -4.70%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 319.40p -4.00%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 263.10p -3.91%