London midday: Stocks turn positive as investors mull hung parliament in France

The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,218.77, having opened in the red.

Rabobank said: "The 2nd round of the French elections unexpectedly saw the left-wing grouping New Popular Front (NFP) emerge as the largest party laying claim to 182 of the 577 parliamentary seats. Le Pen’s National Rally, meanwhile, came in third with 143 while Macron’s centrist Ensemble coalition took 168 seats.

"Our initial take would be that this is something of a surprise in style more than substance. The so-called ‘Republican Front’ whereby parties co-operate to block the far-right’s ascendance to power proved remarkably successful but leaves the parliament split which was what had likely been priced heading into the vote albeit with RN rather than NFP seen coming out on top. The outcome is the same, however, in that we are now likely looking at a period of policy paralysis.

"That said, there is a silver lining from the market’s perspective in that Macron’s better-than-expected performance leaves the door open to a possible government formed between Ensemble and the more moderate elements of NFP."

In UK equity markets, Hiscox surged following a report by Insurance Insider suggesting it could be set for a sale after attracting takeover interest. It cited sources as saying that Japanese insurer Sompo and Italy’s Generali were circling the insurer. Beazley and Lancashire also gained.

Drinks maker Britvic rallied after agreeing to be bought by Danish brewing giant Carlsberg for £3.3bn, having rejected two previous bids.

Online grocery group Ocado jumped after announcing plans to build a third customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Japan as part of its ongoing partnership with Japanese peer AEON.

Melrose Industries was boosted by an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets. It noted that the share price has fallen around 15% from April highs but said the fundamentals remain "very supportive".

B&M European Value Retail was in the black as Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage of the shares at ‘buy’ with a 600p price target. Canaccord said it sees "significant" long-term store expansion potential in the UK and France combined with LFL growth and scope for a further special dividend.

Unite Group was firmer as it said it now expects to deliver rental growth of at least 7% for the 2024/25 academic year.

Plus500 fell as it backed its full-year expectations after a "strong" first-half performance despite "difficult" market conditions.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,218.77 0.18%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,804.79 0.09%
techMARK (TASX) 4,763.12 0.16%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Beazley (BEZ) 684.00p 3.48%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 176.80p 2.37%
easyJet (EZJ) 476.30p 2.34%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 452.30p 1.98%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 463.00p 1.94%
Prudential (PRU) 719.00p 1.70%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,722.00p 1.64%
Barclays (BARC) 224.00p 1.56%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 329.80p 1.54%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 15,630.00p 1.53%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,406.50p -1.53%
Fresnillo (FRES) 584.50p -1.43%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,194.00p -1.24%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,177.00p -1.23%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 461.70p -1.20%
BP (BP.) 476.50p -1.18%
Schroders (SDR) 377.80p -1.00%
Bunzl (BNZL) 3,118.00p -0.95%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 632.00p -0.94%
Glencore (GLEN) 479.20p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,266.00p 13.34%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 347.20p 5.79%
Britvic (BVIC) 1,268.00p 4.79%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 615.00p 3.71%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 2,845.00p 3.27%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,104.00p 3.04%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 4,295.00p 3.00%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 333.00p 2.15%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 149.40p 1.63%
Alpha Group International (ALPH) 2,365.00p 1.50%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 124.50p -3.94%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 66.00p -3.51%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,240.00p -3.20%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 181.20p -3.00%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,752.00p -2.29%
Trainline (TRN) 328.20p -2.26%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 4,010.00p -2.20%
Mony Group (MONY) 231.40p -2.12%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 1,022.00p -1.92%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 467.00p -1.89%