London close: Insurers, banks pace gains

The Telegraph’s ORB poll revealed 55% of those wanting to stay in the EU and 42% who will vote to leave in the 23 June referendum.

Separately, the latest ICM telephone poll showed support for the Remain camp was 47% while support for the Leave camp was 39% and 14% were undecided.

The polls sent the pound higher against the dollar and lifted housebuilding stocks, including Berkeley Group, Persimmon and Travis Perkins.

However, it was insurance and bank shares that were most wanted.

As of 17:13BST cable was trading 0.96% stronger on the day at 1.4623.

On the Brexit debate, Bank of England governor Mark Carney defended his stance on the matter during questions in Parliament on Tuesday.

During evidence given before the Treasury Select Committee, Carney said he believes the central bank has highlighted the key issues around the EU referendum, including short-term uncertainty and the potential change in the trade-off between output and inflation, and he would not expect “something substantially different” to be said.

It came after the BoE released a markedly stern warning earlier this month on the impact of Brexit on the economic outlook in the Quarterly Inflation Report.

The governor joined Monetary Policy Committee members Ben Broadbent, Gertjan Vlieghe and Martin Weale in front of the select committee.

In economic data, UK government borrowing was higher than expected in April. The Office for National Statistics said borrowing, excluding support for state-owned banks, was £7.2bn in April, more than forecasts of £6.6bn but down from £7.5bn the same month last year.

The lower figure reflected weaker-than-expected corporation tax receipts and income from workers’ national insurance contributions.

"The more the economy slows amid heightened uncertainty ahead of the June EU referendum, the more challenging the fiscal target of £55.5bn for 2016/17 will become. The Chancellor will certainly need growth to pick up once the referendum is out of the way, assuming that there is a vote to remain in the EU.

"Should the UK vote to leave the EU in June’s referendum, the Chancellor’s fiscal targets and plans would undoubtedly be blown out of the water and there would need to be major adjustments," Dr.Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS said in a research note sent to clients.

Meanwhile, oil prices reversed earlier falls with Brent crude up 0.37% to $48.53 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.846% to $48.49 per barrel.

Shares of Tesco, Old Mutual lead rise

Tesco was the top performer on the Footsie as investors flocked to buy the grocer's shares, many inspired by the reiteration of an 'outperform' rating from Bernstein and 220p price target.

Stock in Old Mutual jumped after confirming that it has received approaches from third parties to acquire its 66% stake in OM Asset Management.

Homeserve gained as the repair and insurance company posted a rise in profit for the year to the end of March as revenue and customer numbers grew.

Card Factory slumped as it reported lower sales growth for the first quarter due to weak consumer confidence.

Paragon dropped sharply despite the backdrop of rising markets amid concerns about the outlook for the buy-to-let market after the company reported a jump in first half profits driven by buy-to-let loans.

Aveva was in the doldrums after saying full year profits almost halved on the back of lower revenue and one-off exceptional costs related to the aborted merger with Schneider Electric.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,219.26 1.35%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,135.67 0.61%
techMARK (TASX) 3,098.47 0.61%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Tesco (TSCO) 171.00p 6.81%
Old Mutual (OML) 177.10p 5.86%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 236.50p 5.11%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 245.30p 4.78%
Prudential (PRU) 1,386.00p 4.72%
St James's Place (STJ) 943.50p 4.72%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,966.00p 4.24%
Aviva (AV.) 449.80p 3.90%
Schroders (SDR) 2,676.00p 3.68%
Barclays (BARC) 181.90p 3.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,042.00p -3.25%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,895.00p -3.04%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,324.00p -3.00%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 963.50p -1.03%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,281.00p -0.79%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,858.00p -0.45%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,661.50p -0.33%
Rexam (REX) 626.00p -0.24%
SABMiller (SAB) 4,262.50p -0.18%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,297.00p 0.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Homeserve (HSV) 463.00p 7.35%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 253.00p 4.85%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 287.80p 4.85%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 401.20p 4.59%
Ibstock (IBST) 221.40p 4.43%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 292.70p 3.87%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,015.00p 3.17%
Halfords Group (HFD) 445.50p 3.05%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 339.80p 3.00%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 272.90p 2.98%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 302.60p -6.58%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 106.40p -4.92%
Keller Group (KLR) 925.00p -4.64%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,527.00p -4.56%
Card Factory (CARD) 367.10p -3.65%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 558.50p -3.46%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 322.00p -2.98%
Mitie Group (MTO) 281.50p -2.93%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 203.10p -2.78%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,579.00p -2.29%