London midday: Stocks rise as UK trade and industrial output data beats forecasts
London stocks rose on Friday after better-than-expected UK data on trade and industrial production.
At midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.36% to 7,255.48 points.
The UK trade deficit narrowed to £8.6bn in the fourth quarter from £14.1bn the previous quarter, boosted by an increase in exports to countries outside the European Union, the Office for National Statistics said.
In December, the deficit on trade in goods and services was scaled back to £3.3bn from £3.6bn, which the ONS said contributed to the narrowing in the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected a deficit of £3.5bn.
Separately, the ONS revealed industrial production increased 1.1% in December compared to a month ago, driven by an increase in manufacturing. Economists expected a 0.2% rise.
On the year, industrial production jumped 4.3% in December, exceeding estimates for a 3.2% rise.
Manufacturing output climbed 2.1% in December from a month ago and 4% from the same month a year ago, ahead of forecasts for a month-on-month increase of 0.5% and a year-on-year gain of 1.7%.
Construction output edged up 1.8% month-on-month in December, compared to estimates for a 1% rise, and grew 0.6% year-on-year, compared to estimates for a 0.5% fall.
“Today’s economic activity data added to other evidence suggesting that the economy maintained a significant amount of momentum at the end of 2016 and implies that GDP growth is becoming more balanced,” according to Capital Economics.
Mining shares rallied on the back of the UK data with Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta in the black.
Royal Bank of Scotland slumped as it rejected calls to expand a £400m scheme to reimburse customers who claim they were mistreated by the bank’s restructuring division.
Greene King’s shares fell as Canaccord Genuity reiterated a ‘buy’ rating after the pub operator’s third quarter trading update, but cut the target price to 850p from 900p and lowered its earnings guidance.
Dunelm Group advanced as Numis upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘add’ and reiterated a target price of 825p.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,249.10 0.27%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,704.84 0.41%
techMARK (TASX) 3,346.94 0.40%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,338.00p 3.28%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,464.50p 2.44%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 847.00p 2.36%
Capita (CPI) 523.50p 2.05%
Sage Group (SGE) 648.50p 1.81%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 369.40p 1.71%
Old Mutual (OML) 210.50p 1.45%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,357.00p 1.42%
Glencore (GLEN) 316.50p 1.38%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,633.00p 1.33%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 230.50p -1.12%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,345.00p -1.01%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,297.50p -0.98%
Diageo (DGE) 2,238.00p -0.78%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,109.00p -0.75%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,189.00p -0.75%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,766.00p -0.75%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,168.00p -0.69%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,196.00p -0.59%
Barclays (BARC) 228.25p -0.57%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Elementis (ELM) 296.10p 7.59%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 350.90p 4.75%
Evraz (EVR) 252.50p 4.55%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 547.50p 4.29%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 642.00p 3.97%
Berendsen (BRSN) 934.00p 3.95%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 262.90p 3.30%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 159.50p 2.97%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 449.00p 2.93%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 226.00p 2.82%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Just Eat (JE.) 519.50p -6.31%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 487.70p -3.23%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 562.50p -2.51%
Senior (SNR) 193.50p -2.32%
Greene King (GNK) 687.50p -1.93%
Hunting (HTG) 559.00p -1.67%
Essentra (ESNT) 437.30p -1.66%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 450.20p -1.14%
Halma (HLMA) 955.00p -1.14%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 407.00p -1.07%