London open: Stocks rise after BoE, ECB and Fed meeting minutes

London stocks were in positive territory on Friday as investors continued to analyse policy meeting minutes from the Bank of England, European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.

The BoE on Thursday voted 8-1 to maintain rates at 0.50% and its asset purchase programme at £375bn, as expected by analysts, citing weak inflation, low wages, potential risks from a slowdown in emerging markets.

The meeting minutes revealed policymaker Ian McCafferty again voted for an interest rate increase of 25 basis points.

Analysts were mixed in their predictions for an interest rate rise with some saying February 2016 while others suggesting the BoE might hold off until late 2016 or early 2017.

The European Central Bank also published the account of its 2-3 September meeting, which revealed the Governing Council reiterated that it would consider extending the asset purchase programme past September 2016 if needed. The central bank said it would monitor risks closely including weak commodity prices, the euro exchange rate appreciation, lower-than-expected economic growth, subdued inflation and a slowdown in emerging economies.

The minutes from the Fed’s 16-17 September meeting showed that the central bank was close to raising interest rates but the risks of China’s economic slowdown hurting US growth stopped them. Policymakers said that a rate hike “might be near” but they would need to monitor developments.

“[It’s] divided between members who see the health of the domestic economy and continued improvements in labor markets as decisive and warranting a near-term rate hike and those who remain concerned about the prospects for inflation returning to target and the implications of not reaching that target for the ultimate anchoring of inflation expectations, amid risks that economic activity could be derailed by developments abroad,” Barclays said.

Barclays believes the next rate hike will be in March next year following weak jobs data.

Turning to Friday’s agenda, Fed officials Dennis Lockhart and Charles Evans are due to speak and any clues on the timing of an interest rate increase will be closely monitored.

US wholesale inventory and sales data is also set for release at 1500 BST. Wholesale trade sales are forecast to drop 0.4% in August compared to a month ago, while inventories are expected to be flat.

UK trade data at 0930 BST is expected to show the deficit narrowed in August. Analysts predict goods and services deficit of £2.15bn in August, down from £3.37bn the previous month when the UK imported more than it exported.

Company-wise, Lloyds Banking Group climbed as the UK government cut its stake by a further 1% to just under 11% after it emerged that the finance ministry will sell at least £2bn worth of shares to private retail investors in spring next year.

Vedanta Resources jumped after posting a rise in first half production across most of its commodities, as it said net debt at the end of the quarter is expected to be below $8bn and expressed confidence that it will meet its covenants as at the end of September.

Other mining stocks including Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were higher as gold, silver and copper prices rose.

Market Movers

techMARK 3,043.68 +0.44%

FTSE 100 6,404.36 +0.46%

FTSE 250 17,131.06 +0.75%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 128.45p +6.46%

Anglo American (AAL) 708.60p +4.59%

Admiral Group (ADM) 1,594.00p +4.18%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,179.50p +3.01%

Fresnillo (FRES) 725.00p +2.91%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 592.50p +2.51%

Mondi (MNDI) 1,492.00p +2.47%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,576.00p +2.22%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,018.00p +1.70%

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 348.00p +1.46%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sports Direct International (SPD) 720.50p -2.50%

easyJet (EZJ) 1,682.00p -1.29%

National Grid (NG.) 924.60p -1.08%

Carnival (CCL) 3,312.00p -0.69%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,435.00p -0.65%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,136.00p -0.59%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 556.00p -0.54%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 527.90p -0.30%

Whitbread (WTB) 4,754.00p -0.29%

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,238.00p -0.24%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 949.00p +10.61%

Vedanta Resources (VED) 579.50p +9.34%

Premier Oil (PMO) 94.00p +6.15%

Tullow Oil (TLW) 253.50p +3.13%

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 1,734.00p +3.03%

Evraz (EVR) 96.15p +3.00%

Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 830.50p +2.98%

Cairn Energy (CNE) 162.40p +2.53%

Serco Group (SRP) 107.90p +2.37%

SVG Capital (SVI) 483.70p +2.24%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Enterprise Inns (ETI) 106.50p -1.11%

Rightmove (RMV) 3,487.00p -1.08%

Weir Group (WEIR) 1,353.00p -1.02%

Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 224.20p -0.80%

Redefine International (RDI) 53.45p -0.74%

UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 503.50p -0.69%

OneSavings Bank (OSB) 363.40p -0.68%

Computacenter (CCC) 743.50p -0.67%

Carillion (CLLN) 305.60p -0.62%

Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 137.70p -0.58%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers

Filtronic (FTC) 7.00p +1.82%

E2V Technologies (E2V) 240.00p +1.59%

SDL (SDL) 373.75p +1.01%

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 638.50p +0.95%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 7.60p +0.80%

Spirent Communications (SPT) 76.00p +0.33%

NCC Group (NCC) 250.94p +0.17%

Sepura (SEPU) 172.75p +0.14%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers

XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,575.00p -4.55%

Dialight (DIA) 659.00p -2.23%

Skyepharma (SKP) 336.50p -0.74%

BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 19.50p -0.64%

Innovation Group (TIG) 39.25p -0.63%

KCOM Group (KCOM) 91.00p -0.27%

IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 203.14 -0.03%