London midday: Stocks extend gains as miners advance but utilities drop

The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 7,342.40, with its heavily weighted mining sector bouncing back from losses in the previous session. Antofagasta, Glencore, and BHP Billiton were all stronger.

Utilities were the standout losers, however, with Centrica and SSE under the cosh as Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to introduce a cap on domestic energy prices that could see prices drop for around 17 million families if she is re-elected on 8 June.

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "The embattled mining sector is finally seeing some support, despite little sign of a real turnaround in the ongoing fall in commodity prices. At the other end of the spectrum, Centrica leads the utility sector lower as the Conservatives bang on about their energy capping policies. Such a move is emblematic of the Conservative party’s more interventionist stance. It will start with energy companies, but some will be wondering whether other sectors will come under pressure as well."

Elsewhere, William Hill was up but well off earlier highs, with first quarter growth in wagering and revenue across all four of the bookmaker's divisions, although margins tightened. As a group, net revenue in the 17 weeks to 25 April rose 9%, which was in line with market expectations.

Outsourcer Mitie edged higher as it announced that Derek Mapp will take over as chairman from Roger Matthews at the annual general meeting on 26 July, when Matthews will step down after 11 years of service.

Hiscox gained ground after saying it will establish a new European unit in Luxembourg due to Brexit and reporting a 17% rise in gross premiums to £751.2m, while Paysafe gained ground as it reported in-line trading for the first quarter.

Builders merchant Grafton reversed earlier gains to trade lower after saying revenue for the first four months of the year was up 7.7% to £851m as favourable conditions from the end of 2016 continued combined with the benefits of exposure to multiple markets.

Software company Micro Focus International tanked after saying that revenues at the HPE Software business with which it is merging were down around 10% in the quarter to the end of April.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering slipped despite saying that sales growth in the first four months of the year has been ahead of the previous year, helped by an improvement in general industrial production growth rates.

Henderson Group was lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' at UBS, but Card Factory was hit by a downgrade to 'neutral' by the same outfit.

Investors were also mulling over the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, with its measure of like-for-like sales rising 5.6% in April from a year earlier, up from a 1% drop in March and better than expectations of a 0.5% increase. This marked the strongest reading since April 2006.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "April’s BRC figures are very strong, even after accounting for the boost to the year-over-year growth rate from the later timing of Easter this year compared to last. Indeed, like-for-like sales grew at the fastest rate for 11 years, despite there being five other occasions during that period when Easter occurred in the latest month but didn’t in the same month a year ago."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,342.40 0.57%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,816.32 0.44%
techMARK (TASX) 3,543.36 0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,164.00p 2.43%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 770.00p 2.19%
Glencore (GLEN) 290.35p 2.07%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,234.00p 1.90%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,203.00p 1.85%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 866.00p 1.82%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,145.00p 1.78%
WPP (WPP) 1,710.00p 1.73%
CRH (CRH) 2,918.00p 1.60%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 719.70p 1.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,432.00p -7.84%
Centrica (CNA) 199.00p -1.68%
SSE (SSE) 1,434.00p -1.04%
GKN (GKN) 355.30p -1.03%
Kingfisher (KGF) 340.00p -0.79%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 802.50p -0.74%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 265.00p -0.60%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,980.00p -0.45%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,405.00p -0.33%
Old Mutual (OML) 191.00p -0.31%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 157.60p 4.79%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 480.10p 3.83%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 488.60p 3.58%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,071.00p 3.48%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,367.00p 3.25%
Henderson Group (HGG) 234.90p 2.71%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 727.50p 2.54%
Carillion (CLLN) 220.90p 2.46%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,571.00p 1.94%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 606.00p 1.93%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Allied Minds (ALM) 148.50p -3.26%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,647.00p -2.89%
Card Factory (CARD) 317.00p -2.58%
Capita (CPI) 571.00p -1.72%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 383.90p -1.66%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 439.40p -1.55%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 3,653.00p -1.46%
Aggreko (AGK) 856.00p -1.15%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 353.00p -1.09%
Redefine International (RDI) 37.79p -1.02%