London open: Stocks rally amid China easing hopes

London stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, with commodities pacing the gains amid hopes China will ease Covid restrictions.

At 0850 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 7,539.68.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "Risk-on sentiment has lifted European equities this morning boosted by a rally overnight in China after the health authorities held a briefing this morning in response to the recent rare protests.

"After Monday’s losses, Chinese markets are staging gains with the Hang Seng surging more than 5%, the Shanghai Composite rallying over 2% and the Hang Seng Tech Index up by more than 5.5%.

"Markets were pushing higher overnight in anticipation of this morning’s Covid briefing held by China’s health authorities at 3pm local time in which they announced plans to increase vaccinations for the elderly and to reduce the time gap between basic vaccination and boosters to three months for those aged 80 and above.

"The authorities insisted that people’s complaints are about extra covid measures and a one size fits all approach rather than the measures themselves."

In equity markets, Asia-focused Prudential surged to the top of the FTSE 100 following strong gains in Chinese equity markets. Standard Chartered also pushed up.

Miners - which are heavily dependent on demand from China - also gained, with Rio, Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta all up.

West End landlord Shaftesbury was higher after saying it swung to a full-year profit as it returned to pre-pandemic occupancy. In the year to 30 September, the company swung to a profit after tax of £119.1m from a loss of £194.9m the year earlier. However, this was below consensus expectations of £348.5m.

Budget airline easyJet flew lower even as it said it narrowed full-year losses and that it was ramping up preparations for next summer as travellers looked for value for money during the cost-of-living crisis. The company posted an annual pre-tax loss of £208m compared with a £1bn loss during the Covid pandemic which shut down air travel.

In broker note action, Admiral was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘hold’ at HSBC, while Sage was weaker after an initiation at ‘sell’ by Goodbody. IMI was down after a cut to ‘sell’ at UBS.

On the upside, Rotork rose after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at UBS.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,539.68 0.88%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,306.16 0.07%
techMARK (TASX) 4,416.65 -0.20%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Prudential (PRU) 987.40p 6.36%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,573.00p 3.92%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,292.00p 3.73%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 320.00p 2.89%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 596.00p 2.79%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 133.25p 2.54%
Glencore (GLEN) 551.10p 2.38%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,357.50p 2.26%
Shell (SHEL) 2,411.50p 2.16%
BP (BP.) 492.20p 1.79%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,000.00p -1.67%
Halma (HLMA) 2,237.00p -1.50%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,974.00p -1.39%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,818.00p -1.25%
Experian (EXPN) 2,912.00p -1.15%
Sage Group (SGE) 807.60p -1.03%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,925.00p -1.02%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 91.99p -0.88%
RS Group (RS1) 923.00p -0.86%
Relx plc (REL) 2,319.00p -0.77%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Rotork (ROR) 300.20p 3.45%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 217.00p 3.33%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 83.50p 1.95%
Savills (SVS) 926.50p 1.81%
Capricorn Energy (CNE) 249.40p 1.63%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 44.38p 1.60%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 104.80p 1.55%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 571.00p 1.42%
Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 503.00p 1.41%
Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd. (SOI) 253.00p 1.40%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 138.30p -13.24%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 123.20p -6.53%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,774.00p -5.51%
IMI (IMI) 1,363.00p -4.28%
Darktrace (DARK) 350.00p -2.32%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 267.50p -2.01%
easyJet (EZJ) 385.50p -1.91%
Carnival (CCL) 695.80p -1.89%
Bodycote (BOY) 583.50p -1.85%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 91.95p -1.61%