London open: FTSE recovers despite political turmoil
London stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday, recovering after heavy losses in the previous session, despite the latest political turmoil.
At 0835 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 2.1% at 7,176.05, having closed down 2.9% on Tuesday amid renewed concerns about inflation and a global slowdown.
On Tuesday evening, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned, leaving Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s future in doubt. Having tumbled in the aftermath of the news, sterling was regaining some composure, up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.1973.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The UK’s premier index staged a rebound in early exchanges, with gains broadly based and with the more beaten down stocks enjoying some relief. This comes after a punishing session yesterday which wiped almost 3% from the index as energy stocks felt the full force of the selling pressure.
"This was enough to add to the damage which has been done over recent weeks, and the FTSE 100 is now down by 3.5% in the year to date, despite the early bounce today.
"UK markets will be in general focus today as the latest round of political drama unfolds, with sterling likely to feel most heat.
"The imminent reporting season on both sides of the pond now takes on additional significance as investors attempt to gauge not only the current performance of corporates on the ground, but also outlook and guidance comments from companies given the murky waters of growth and economic prospects."
In equity markets, Abrdn jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after it announced the launch of a £300m share buyback programme.
Intermediate Capital rallied after The Times reported that the fund manager was in exclusive talks to buy Wembley Arena.
Online rail ticketing platform Trainline surged as it lifted annual guidance after a bigger-than-expected surge in demand for travel, particularly from US visitors.
Industrial thread maker Coats rallied after announcing the acquisition of Texon International Group, a footwear solutions provider, for an enterprise value of $237m.
Discoverie also gained after saying it had bought CDT, a designer and manufacturer of customised plastic enclosures for circuit boards, membrane keypads and associated electronics components, for £5m.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,176.05 2.14%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,658.72 1.87%
techMARK (TASX) 4,338.05 1.73%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Abrdn (ABDN) 159.40p 7.02%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,345.50p 4.75%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 840.00p 4.30%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 151.85p 3.58%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 790.40p 3.56%
Informa (INF) 532.60p 3.54%
BP (BP.) 386.50p 3.54%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 751.20p 3.44%
Prudential (PRU) 994.80p 3.39%
M&G (MNG) 190.15p 3.37%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Centrica (CNA) 74.82p -1.55%
Fresnillo (FRES) 717.20p -1.32%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,770.00p -0.15%
Meggitt (MGGT) 789.00p 0.03%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 524.80p 0.32%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,395.00p 0.63%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 595.80p 0.64%
National Grid (NG.) 1,073.00p 0.66%
Avast (AVST) 517.40p 0.86%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,249.00p 0.93%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Trainline (TRN) 347.00p 23.09%
Carnival (CCL) 700.80p 8.18%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 129.50p 5.89%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 660.00p 5.10%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 268.90p 4.92%
Ascential (ASCL) 284.80p 4.86%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 94.10p 4.56%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 221.80p 4.13%
SSP Group (SSPG) 241.80p 4.09%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 409.80p 3.88%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 143.10p -1.38%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 477.00p -0.63%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 261.00p -0.57%
Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 144.60p -0.55%
Pantheon International (PIN) 243.00p -0.41%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 130.00p -0.31%
ContourGlobal (GLO) 251.50p 0.00%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 406.40p 0.00%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 230.50p 0.00%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 509.00p 0.00%