London close: FTSE jumps 1.6% after business-friendly Budget, Fed meeting ahead

Dovish comments from Bank of England policymakers were also buoying sentiment, as investors awaited an anticipated hawkish outlook from the Federal Reserve after the close.

By the end of the session, the FTSE 100 was up 1.6% at 6,945.20, surging 107.59 points on the day. The Footsie is now back re-testing the record closing high of 6,961.14 reached on 5 March.

"UK shares traded higher on Wednesday after the Bank of England signalled lower rates for longer, backed up by weaker labour market data particularly a slowing in wage growth," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

The UK unemployment rate remained stuck at 5.7% over the three months to January, disappointing analysts looking for a drop to 5.6%. Meanwhile, annual earnings growth slowed to just 1.8% from 2.1% the preceding three months, missing the +2.2% consensus forecast.

Meanwhile, Lawler said stocks were lifted as the Budget was a "bit less austere than the autumn statement which could be generally construed as positive for the business environment".

The Federal Open Market Committee concludes its two-day meeting at 18:00 on Wednesday evening. While no change is expected in the policy stance, forward guidance will be in focus given ongoing speculation that policymakers will drop the term 'patient' when referring to the first rate hike.

Stocks jump after Budget measures

Confirmation by chancellor George Osborne of budgetary measures to lower taxes in the struggling North Sea oil industry gave energy producers and services stocks another big lift on Wednesday, including Tullow Oil, Shell and BP.

Asset managers Hargreaves Lansdown and St James's Place were rising on the back of changes to ISA savings, as Osborne introduced greater flexibility for savers. Plans to launch a new 'Help to Buy ISA' to help first-time buyers were also boosting shares of housebuilders like Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments, as well as estate agent Savills.

Meanwhile, shares in pub landlords, brewers and beverage companies all added gains after Osborne decided to cut duty on beer by 1p for the third successive time in his budget. Greene King, JD Wetherspoon and Diageo investors were all toasting the announcement.

In other news, shares in Standard Chartered were surging after analysts at Barclays and Bernstein raised their ratings, highlighting the recent appointment of former JPMorgan banker as its new boss. Barclays lifted their stance on StanChart from 'equal weight' to 'overweight', while Bernstein upgraded by two notches from 'underperform' to 'outperform'.

Mining stocks were generally out of favour, with Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Glencore and BHP Billiton all in the red.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,249.51 +1.00%
FTSE 100 6,945.20 +1.57%
FTSE 250 17,363.74 +0.93%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,043.00p +8.08%
St James's Place (STJ) 978.00p +5.16%
CRH (CRH) 1,771.00p +4.98%
Royal Mail (RMG) 448.70p +3.94%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,134.00p +3.37%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 982.50p +2.77%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,206.00p +2.73%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 153.20p +2.61%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 935.00p +2.58%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,022.50p +2.41%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Fresnillo (FRES) 644.00p -2.28%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,830.50p -1.50%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,763.00p -0.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 681.50p -0.80%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,860.00p -0.53%
Glencore (GLEN) 281.30p -0.37%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,458.00p -0.34%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,069.50p -0.19%
Sage Group (SGE) 478.40p -0.06%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,694.00p -0.05%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Soco International (SIA) 147.90p +5.64%
Allied Minds (ALM) 664.00p +4.90%
Savills (SVS) 778.00p +4.85%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 931.00p +4.20%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 572.50p +4.09%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 366.80p +3.41%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,817.00p +3.38%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 343.30p +3.37%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 297.40p +3.26%
RPS Group (RPS) 238.40p +3.20%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Just Eat (JE.) 347.00p -4.93%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 144.10p -4.32%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,766.00p -3.97%
Premier Oil (PMO) 135.80p -3.62%
esure Group (ESUR) 220.30p -2.65%
Alent (ALNT) 377.00p -2.43%
Game Digital (GMD) 261.70p -2.20%
Afren (AFR) 3.14p -2.09%
Supergroup (SGP) 873.50p -2.07%
Carillion (CLLN) 331.50p -1.98%