Life insurers, oil stocks boost indices

Life insurers jumped on Wednesday on the heels of positive broker comment and supportive remarks from some ex-officials regarding the fall-out, or not, for the sector as a result of Brexit.

Prudential´s shares rallied after Barclays reiterated an ‘overweight’ rating and target price of 1609p on the stock, saying the company was its “top pick among European insurers”.

That came alongside gains in the likes of Aviva and Legal&General.

The former head of the civil service Lord Turnbull, who served as a non-executive director at Prudential for almost a decade, said on Tuesday that British-based insurers may be better off outside the EU because capital rules have damaged competitiveness and constrained the sector's ability to expand. His remarks also gave peers Aviva and Legal & General a boost.

Oil stocks were also well supported after the latest weekly US inventory data revealed a large 4.1m barrel drop in stockpiles of commercial crude oil, with stock in BP and Royal Dutch Shell registering hefty gains.

Some market chatter on Wednesday highlighted the fact that Britain´s oil consumption represented but a drop in the proverbial sea, in terms of global oil supply and demand dynamics, while economic growth in the euro area was seen taking a hit this year and next, albeit without derailing the recovery.

Acting as a backdrop, analysts continued to weigh-in on the implications of Brexit for the UK economy, with a wide range of views on the subject.

In the near-term, looking out to 2017, there appeared to be many observes who expected activity levels to take a significant hit.

Nonetheless, there were also those who pointed out that Brexit might not get formally underway, if it finally did, until the end of the year, and implicitly taking comfort in the prospect that the 'status quo' would be maintained for now.

Making it even harder to read the tea leaves on the economy were the question marks surrounding whatactions the Bank of England might undertake, or not, to prop up the economy.

Travel and leisure stocks declined, including TUI, IAG and easyJet, after a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport killed 36 people.

Analysts at JP Morgan reportedly marked down their target price for TUI.

Among financials, stock in Shawbrook Group registered sharp gains as Credit Suisse maintained its ‘outperform’ rating, although it did cut its target price to 235p from 380p.

“We acknowledge the macro risks from Brexit (which we now reflect in estimates),and are disappointed by yesterday's announcement about past "irregularities" in asset finance lending, but believe underwriting is fundamentally robust and that current depressed valuations are overdone,” said Credit Suisse.