London midday: Rising commodity prices boost resource stocks, BP gains

The FTSE 100 was up 1.2% at 6,861 by midday, helped by big gains from oil and mining stocks as commodity prices strengthened. BP was also lifting sentiment after beating forecasts with its fourth-quarter results.

On a relatively quiet morning in terms of economic data, the only major release was the UK construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) which showed that growth had unexpectedly accelerated last month.

The UK construction PMI jumped to 59.1 in January from a 17-month low of 57.6 in December, surprising analysts who had expected a fall to 57. Nevertheless, the latest reading was still the second-lowest seen since September 2013, Markit said.

The new government in Greece has proposed using debt swaps for new growth-linked bonds, rather than calling for a write-off of its €315n of foreign debt. Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis labelled it “smart debt engineering”.

“Varoufakis has finally laid out Syriza’s proposed Greek debt plan, and it’s not as radical as many hoped and/or feared,” said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex.

In other news, the Reserve Bank of Australia became the latest central bank cut to lower interest rates in response to deflationary concerns. The 25 basis-point reduction to a record-low 2.25% saw the Aussie dollar drop to a fresh five-and-a-half-year low and stock markets leap to their highest since May 2008.

BP leads oil stocks higher, miners surge

BP swung to a non-adjusted loss in the fourth quarter after taking $3.6bn of impairment charges due to the lower oil price. However, underlying profits impressed after a less-than-feared 20% year-on-year decline to $2.2bn.

The news that the company had slashed its investment budget for this year by $4bn-6bn also gave crude prices a boost as oil extended gains made over the last few days on speculation of slowing output. Brent rose 3.9% to $56.86 a barrel, lifted further by ongoing strikes at oil refineries in the States.

Afren, Shell, Premier Oil and Soco International were rising strongly. Energy services group Hunting was higher after Nomura upgraded its rating on the stock to ‘neutral’.

However, BG Group fell after reporting an adjusted net profit of $915m for the fourth quarter, down 19% year-on-year. Reported net losses widened to $5.03bn from $1.07bn after an $8.9bn impairment charge due to lower commodity prices.

Mining stocks were performing well as metal prices advanced. Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Glencore were all putting in decent gains.

Aberdeen Asset Management declined after seeing net outflows in the three months to end-December due to a weakening of investor sentiment to emerging markets in December. Assets under management fell to £323.3bn from £324.4bn over its first quarter.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,070.74 +0.93%
FTSE 100 6,860.77 +1.15%
FTSE 250 16,568.65 +1.30%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,819.00p +4.90%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,556.50p +4.89%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,178.00p +4.80%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 702.00p +4.46%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,373.00p +4.08%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,114.00p +3.92%
Glencore (GLEN) 262.50p +3.71%
Barclays (BARC) 244.30p +3.58%
CRH (CRH) 1,775.00p +3.32%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,137.00p +3.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 423.20p -3.84%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,226.00p -1.38%
Next (NXT) 7,085.00p -1.12%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,083.00p -1.00%
BG Group (BG.) 924.90p -1.00%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,586.00p -0.77%
Diageo (DGE) 1,938.50p -0.59%
Kingfisher (KGF) 333.20p -0.57%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,600.00p -0.53%
Pearson (PSON) 1,356.00p -0.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 14.25p +42.50%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 429.70p +8.54%
Premier Oil (PMO) 169.90p +8.29%
Hunting (HTG) 450.00p +7.55%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 441.70p +6.31%
Soco International (SIA) 295.40p +6.22%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,421.00p +6.12%
Computacenter (CCC) 669.00p +6.11%
Serco Group (SRP) 170.00p +5.46%
Britvic (BVIC) 749.00p +5.05%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Saga (SAGA) 178.00p -1.82%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,459.00p -1.80%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,641.00p -1.64%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 663.00p -1.63%
NMC Health (NMC) 500.50p -1.48%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 314.00p -1.35%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 640.00p -1.23%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 152.70p -1.17%
Betfair Group (BET) 1,569.00p -1.01%
AO World (AO.) 304.10p -0.82%