London close: Chinese data offsets IMF downgrade

The FTSE 100 gained 34.57 points to finish the day at 6,629.

China's gross domestic product expanded at a 7.4% clip in 2014, markets seemed to draw comfort from the fact that the rate of expansion was just a shade below Beijing’s official target of 7.5%.

In parallel, separate data revealed that industrial production and retail sales in the Asian giant accelerated slightly in December to expand by 7.9% and 11.9%, respectively.

To take note of as well, the latest figures on the state of the property market also pointed to some signs of stabilisation, although according to analysts at Danske Bank it “remains fragile”. The rate of decline in new homes sales slowed to 4.1% year-on-year last month, from -13.3% in November.

The above helped to compensate for the International Monetary Fund's decision overnight to downgrade its forecast for the rate of global expansion in 2015.

Citing a weaker outlook for the Eurozone, Japan and China the Washington-based lender said it now sees the world's economy expanding at a 3.5% clip this year, down from the 3.8% pace it projected in October.

Significantly, its economists also cut their projection for global inflation this year by half, to 1%.

"The world economy is facing strong and complex cross currents,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said.

Curves ahead for car insurers, broker says

Admiral Group fared poorly after a research report from Morgan Stanley speculated that 2015 could be problematic for UK motor insurers. Analyst Marcus Rivaldi suggested that in the next 12 months, insurers could be at tipping point for top-line growth and margin expansion.

Full-year results from William Hill jumped ahead of forecasts even though the bookmaker fell at a fourth quarter hurdle as football and horse racing results favoured punters. The FTSE 250 group, was forced to officially distribute the figures at 20:00 on Monday after they were accidentally emailed to analysts, reported net revenue down 2% and operating profits down 7% in the fourth quarter as "unfavourable" sports results were exacerbated by a large high-roller hit in its on-line casino.

Fast-moving consumer goods giant Unilever saw slower growth than expected in 2014, with underlying sales up 2.9%, faster than the markets it operates in but lower than analyst forecasts, with volumes higher by 1% and prices advancing by 1.9%. The company's core operating margins improved by 40 basis points at current exchange rates, free cash-flow came in at €3.1bn following €0.8bn in taxes on the profits earned from disposals, while core earnings were up by 11%.

Rio Tinto finished the year with robust fourth quarter results, though the natural resources behemoth unearthed less copper than was forecasts. Iron ore production of 79.1m tons was 12% higher than the same period a year before but came in behind the 82.2m consensus forecast, though shipments of the metal were 17% higher year on year.

After the Swiss National Bank caused a wave of client losses that led to a £30m hit on the company, forex and spread-betting provider IG Group posted a strong set of interim results. The London-based group, which opened a Swiss office in October, recorded record revenue in the half year after a subdued first quarter, with trading revenue up 8% at £197.4m, profit before tax up 2.8% to £101.4m and diluted earnings per share up 5.4% at 21.44p.

The ongoing volatility in emerging market currencies continued to boost the price of gold and stocks like Fresnillo along with it.

Tullow Oil shares took a hit after its price target price was lowered from £5.45 to £3.85 by analysts at Investec.

Glencore was boosted by better-than expected Chinese data was released on Tuesday. Gross domestic product rose 7.3% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, more than the 7.2% growth that was expected. Burberry Group also rose after Chinese retail sales in December grew 11.9% from the previous month, beating analysts’ estimates for an 11.7% climb.

techMARK 3,030.46 +0.30%
FTSE 100 6,620.10 +0.52%
FTSE 250 16,126.56 +0.37%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 911.00p +4.00%
Glencore (GLEN) 257.45p +3.94%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 760.50p +3.68%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 380.50p +3.12%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,121.50p +2.94%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 509.00p +2.83%
Kingfisher (KGF) 336.60p +2.68%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,654.00p +2.61%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,560.00p +2.49%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,065.00p +2.31%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,057.00p -5.79%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,416.00p -2.48%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,050.00p -2.02%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 427.30p -1.43%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,674.00p -1.30%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,468.00p -1.28%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,343.00p -1.21%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 442.20p -0.96%
Royal Mail (RMG) 426.20p -0.93%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,480.00p -0.91%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 430.00p +8.31%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 208.00p +6.67%
Allied Minds (ALM) 401.10p +5.55%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 476.20p +4.66%
Laird (LRD) 316.90p +4.24%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 158.00p +3.47%
Lonmin (LMI) 181.40p +3.36%
Poundland Group (PLND) 363.20p +3.21%
Synthomer (SYNT) 246.10p +3.19%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,377.00p +3.15%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Afren (AFR) 25.79p -6.73%
William Hill (WMH) 358.30p -4.86%
esure Group (ESUR) 225.70p -3.34%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 790.50p -2.95%
Playtech (PTEC) 645.50p -2.79%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,928.00p -2.72%
Premier Oil (PMO) 142.50p -2.60%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,285.00p -2.52%
Pace (PIC) 341.60p -2.29%
IP Group (IPO) 216.70p -1.86%