Advertisement
UK markets close in 5 hours 40 minutes
  • FTSE 100

    7,957.73
    +25.75 (+0.32%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,821.06
    +10.40 (+0.05%)
     
  • AIM

    742.45
    +0.34 (+0.05%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1692
    +0.0023 (+0.20%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2616
    -0.0022 (-0.18%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,984.50
    +502.51 (+0.91%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,248.49
    +44.91 (+0.86%)
     
  • DOW

    39,760.08
    +477.75 (+1.22%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.09
    +0.74 (+0.91%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,230.10
    +17.40 (+0.79%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,502.67
    +25.58 (+0.14%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,249.69
    +44.88 (+0.55%)
     

Britain's FTSE outperforms Europe, helped by commodity strength

* FTSE 100 closes up 0.1 percent

* Mining shares among top gainers

* Experian (Other OTC: EXPGF - news) falls after update (ADVISORY - Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for more details)

By Atul Prakash and Alistair Smout

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index edged up on Wednesday, outperforming the rest of Europe thanks to a rebound in the mining and oil sectors on the back of stronger commodity prices.

The FTSE 100 index was up 0.1 percent at 6,144.60 points by the close after rising 0.7 percent on Tuesday.

ADVERTISEMENT

That compared to a fall of 0.4 percent for the FTSEurofirst 300 and a 0.7 percent drop for the Euro STOXX 50 .

The commodities-heavy FTSE 100 benefited from demand for resource-related stocks, while the UK mining index rose 2.6 percent after prices of copper, aluminium and zinc climbed by 1-2 percent.

"After the recent sell-off, miners are once again in demand, with stronger metal prices underpinning the sector," Securequity senior trader Jawaid Afsar said.

But he warned the outlook for the sector was still grim given lingering concerns about the pace of economic growth in top metals consumer China.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) and BHP Billiton rose between 2.3 and 5.4 percent.

Oil shares also turned higher in late trade after a spike in U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . crude prices, following data that showed a surprise drop in crude inventories.

"The drawdown may well have been due to the wildfires in Canada as the latter's main export market is the United States," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index.

"Imports are likely to fall further this week because of the significant reduction of oil output in Canada."

Experian recouped early losses to close down just 0.4 percent after the world's biggest credit data company reported unchanged full-year pretax profits against a backdrop of adverse foreign exchange movements.

Among mid-caps, William Hill (Other OTC: WIMHF - news) slumped 6.6 percent after a lacklustre update that reaffirmed a difficult trading environment.

Shares hit a 3-1/2 year low, and are down 27 percent since late February, after a profit warning in March.

"Nothing has changed since the profit warning in March," UBS analysts said in a note. Some other analysts had yet to downgrade their forecasts for the stock in light of the profit warning, they added.

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.

Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Editing by Catherine Evans)