London midday: Royal Mail and miners lift markets ahead of ECB
UK stocks were on the rise on Thursday morning but gains were limited as investors treaded cautiously ahead of an all-important policy meeting at the European Central Bank (ECB).
Anglo American
2,430.00p
17:15 04/10/24
Balfour Beatty
429.00p
16:44 04/10/24
BHP Group Limited NPV (DI)
2,304.00p
17:00 04/10/24
Card Factory
97.70p
16:40 04/10/24
CLS Holdings
95.20p
16:44 04/10/24
Construction & Materials
12,074.84
17:14 04/10/24
Electronic & Electrical Equipment
9,903.85
17:14 04/10/24
FTSE 100
8,280.63
16:49 04/10/24
FTSE 250
20,900.08
17:14 04/10/24
FTSE 350
4,570.17
17:14 04/10/24
FTSE All-Share
4,527.24
16:54 04/10/24
General Retailers
4,211.99
17:14 04/10/24
Glencore
433.10p
17:00 04/10/24
Industrial Transportation
4,117.65
17:14 04/10/24
Insurance (non-life)
3,813.66
17:14 04/10/24
International Distribution Services
341.20p
17:15 04/10/24
Mining
11,521.23
17:14 04/10/24
Oxford Instruments
2,045.00p
16:45 04/10/24
Real Estate Investment & Services
2,472.97
17:14 04/10/24
RSA Insurance Group Limited
684.20p
16:54 28/05/21
Vedanta Resources
832.60p
16:35 28/09/18
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 6,755 by midday, with a decent performance from Royal Mail and mining stocks providing a boost. The index settled at 6,728 on Wednesday, its highest level in over six weeks.
Stocks have rallied ahead of the ECB meeting in hopes that policymakers will implement full-blown quantitative easing (QE) in an effort to lift the Eurozone out of deflation and boost growth.
The ECB will make its announcement at 12:45 and a press conference with president Mario Draghi will begin at 13:30.
Markets jumped strongly on Wednesday in particular after an apparent leaked ECB report suggested that the bank was looking at purchasing €50bn of government bonds each month for the next year, a slightly more aggressive approach than some analysts were expecting.
“Will they or won’t they? It’s all about the ECB today, as the QE question will finally be answered,” said analyst Alastair McCaig from IG.
“The rally that has been seen over the last couple of weeks does leave a sense of nervousness as the chance of a ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ situation could well be on the cards.”
Royal Mail and miners lead markets higher
Royal Mail was a high riser as it said it expects to meet full-year forecasts following a “busy festive period” with parcel numbers up 4% at 120m in December alone, though competition in the parcel market held back revenue growth. Alex Joyner from Galvan Research said shareholders will be “breathing a sigh of relief”, with the company taking the lion’s share of the 300m parcels delivered across the UK last month.
Mining stocks were performing well, including Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Glencore and Vedanta Resources.
Balfour Beatty fell after slashing expectations for its 2014 UK construction profits by a further £70m after a review of the business.
Shares in Oxford Instruments plunged nearly 30% after the nanotechnology group said second-half revenues will “fall short of market expectations” due to tightening sanctions against Russia and a slower recovery from Japan.
Property investment firm CLS Holdings surged after saying that 2014 results would be “materially ahead” of market estimates due to a big increase in the value of its London property portfolio.
Retailer Card Factory dropped sharply after an in-line trading update underwhelming investors, while Canaccord Genuity downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ after its recent strong run. RSA Insurance was boosted by a Credit Suisse upgrade to ‘outperform’.
Compass Group and SSE were both trading in the red after going ex-dividend.
Market Movers
techMARK 3,052.61 -0.34%
FTSE 100 6,755.10 +0.40%
FTSE 250 16,330.10 +0.47%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 450.00p +4.53%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,164.00p +3.79%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,474.50p +3.33%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,116.00p +3.14%
Glencore (GLEN) 266.05p +3.12%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 396.40p +3.09%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 734.00p +3.02%
BG Group (BG.) 912.40p +2.99%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 960.70p +2.89%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,736.00p +2.84%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,921.00p -2.57%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,713.00p -1.77%
SSE (SSE) 1,478.00p -1.73%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,630.00p -1.73%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 433.60p -1.41%
Fresnillo (FRES) 911.50p -1.41%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,483.00p -1.39%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,422.00p -1.39%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,965.00p -1.36%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,110.00p -1.33%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 482.60p +10.33%
Evraz (EVR) 172.20p +8.99%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,546.00p +7.36%
Playtech (PTEC) 691.50p +6.14%
Hunting (HTG) 497.30p +5.81%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 688.00p +4.96%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 280.20p +4.94%
Allied Minds (ALM) 440.00p +4.76%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,017.00p +4.02%
Soco International (SIA) 269.40p +3.81%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 785.50p -28.59%
Card Factory (CARD) 262.00p -4.97%
Countrywide (CWD) 412.60p -4.31%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,087.00p -3.46%
Indivior (INDV) 159.70p -3.21%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,279.00p -3.10%
Pennon Group (PNN) 886.50p -2.48%
BTG (BTG) 790.00p -2.23%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 153.20p -1.92%
Saga (SAGA) 164.00p -1.74%