London midday: Miners pace gains on stimulus hopes, upbeat US jobs data

Asian stocks finished the session with strong gains, as some market commentary referenced reports that ex-US central bank chief Ben Bernanke had met with Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda as the reason behind speculation that the BoJ might be set to step-up its policy easing, perhaps even quite substantially.

To take note of, Wall Street finished on the front foot last Friday, with the S&P closing near record highs, following a strong non-farm payrolls report for the month of June.

As of 12:08 BST the FTSE 100 was 46.42 points or 0.70% higher at 6,637.06 and the second-tier index up by another 1.67% or 270.45 points to 16,448.20.

Thus, extending the post-Brexit rally, the indices were driven forward this time by mining giants, including Anglo American, Glencore, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton, along with rebounding financials and house-builders.

In parallel, three-month LME-traded copper futures were advancing 2.2% to $4,711 per metric tonne.

Monday was a quiet day for macroeconomic data, although traders would likely be eyeing speeches from two high-ranking officials scheduled for later in the day, first from Kansas City Fed president Esther George on the US economy followed closely by another from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.

For analysts at Barclays the former was likely to revert to a "very hawkish stance and call for a near-term rate hike."

As for Mester, Barclays said: "We think she will likely focus on the risks of keeping policy too accommodative and say she expects a near-term rate hike."

But the UK was also just days away from the next Bank of England policy meeting, with investors almost certain a rate cut would be announced on Thursday, as the Monetary Policy Committee looked to reduce the shock of the EU referendum decision on the UK economy.

Nevertheless, Governor Mark Carney had made his dislike of negative interest rates clear and had also indicated that the July and August MPC meetings should be considered together as a package that would likely deliver stimulus.

Some observers felt the only option is a shock cut from the current 0.5% base rate all the way down to zero, followed by quantitative easing in August, though odds are pointing to a 25 basis points cut and a revival of asset purchases as the likely option.

"A plunge in consumer confidence and evidence of markedly reduced business sentiment since the Brexit vote has enhanced the case for interest rates to be cut from 0.50% to 0.25% as soon as Thursday. To us, there seems little reason to wait on an interest rate cut front," said economist Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight, suspecting a revival of quantitative easing and end up extending its Funding for Lending Scheme in August.

Sterling was expected to be volatile, whatever happened, and indeed began the week choppily, still changing hands around its 31-year low. It was up by 0.31% versus the dollar at 1.2991 and up 0.25% on the euro at 1.1749.

In company news, Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay €720m to complete the full takeover of Spanish aero engine component manufacturer Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP). The FTSE 100 company, which currently owns a large minority stake in the profitable Bilbao-based business, will purchase the outstanding 53.1% shareholding in ITP from SENER Grupo de Ingeniería in eight instalments over a two-year period.

RPC Group was one of the early leaders of the FTSE 250 as it unveiled a positive update on its first quarter trading - a quarter in which it continued integrating the acquisition of GCS and made an offer for BPI. The plastic products design and engineering companysaid revenues in the three months to 30 June were significantly higher than the same period last year, due to underlying growth and the contribution of acquisitions. Adjusted operating profit at constant currencies was also significantly ahead of both 2015, and management expectations.

CLS Holdings said it has exchanged contracts to buy two properties, one in Düsseldorf and one in Hamburg, for a total of €49.5m. The Düsseldorf property is to be bought for €43.6m including costs, and generates net rental income of €3.1m, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.1%. The property benefits from a high occupancy rate and presents significant scope for future rental uplifts and other asset management opportunities, CLS said.