Advertisement
UK markets closed

  • FTSE 100

    8,318.15
    +104.66 (+1.27%)
     

  • FTSE 250

    20,403.83
    +239.29 (+1.19%)
     

  • AIM

    776.71
    +5.18 (+0.67%)
     

  • GBP/EUR

    1.1638
    -0.0021 (-0.18%)
     

  • GBP/USD

    1.2540
    -0.0024 (-0.19%)
     

  • Bitcoin GBP

    50,836.27
    +103.78 (+0.20%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,323.49
    -41.63 (-3.05%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,195.81
    +15.07 (+0.29%)
     

  • DOW

    38,930.50
    +78.23 (+0.20%)
     

  • CRUDE OIL

    78.11
    -0.37 (-0.47%)
     

  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,323.70
    -7.50 (-0.32%)
     

  • NIKKEI 225

    38,835.10
    +599.03 (+1.57%)
     

  • HANG SENG

    18,479.37
    -98.93 (-0.53%)
     

  • DAX

    18,438.53
    +263.32 (+1.45%)
     

  • CAC 40

    8,074.41
    +77.77 (+0.97%)
     
Money:

The retirement income gap no-one is talking about

People are living longer than ever before and this can impact how you plan for retirement

London open: FTSE 100 plays catch up with peers after previous weak finish

Sharecast

LONDON (ShareCast) - UK's FTSE 100 index is playing catch up with its European counterparts who outperformed it in the previous session. On Tuesday, the London benchmark pared session losses to close lower while Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 swung mildly higher.

In Wednesday's session, the tables have turned in favour for the FTSE 100. By 0907 GMT, the index of 100 leading British blue-chips rose to 0.29% or 20 points to stand at 7031, near its all-time highs.

The London market was shrugging off a mixed Asia session while US stock futures are indicting a flattish open on Wall Street later.

In the FX markets, the euro and British pound are both beating the US dollar which fell after Tuesday's zero inflation data from the world's largest economy.

ADVERTISEMENT

In commodities, oil prices are once again under the cosh while silver and gold prices are little changed, which provides little firm direction to miners and energy stocks.

"Commodity stocks have begun to reappear as a negative factor for the UK index this week, so on this sparse day for data these may play a factor in whether we see another record-breaking FTSE 100 performance," said Connor Campbell, a market analyst with Spreadex. Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFBF - news) shares gain despite poor numbers Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in UK construction firm Balfour Beatty rose 4.5% as it pledged to implement cost saving after reporting deep losses last year which forced it to suspend its dividend.

United Utilities Group rose 0.3% after the company said it expects a modest increase in underlying operating profit for current year earnings compared with the previous year.

Shares in TUI AG (LSE: TUI.L - news) gained 2.8% after it confirmed the merged Anglo German travel colossus has sailed serenely past last year's figures and remained confident of delivering strong full year growth.

Profits at UK housebuilder Bellway (LSE: BWY.L - news) jumped by more than a half to a record in the first six months of its financial year, prompting the company to hike its interim dividend by 56.3%. The stock rose 4%.

Market Movers techMARK 3,252.53 +0.32% FTSE 100 7,034.92 +0.22% FTSE 250 17,622.88 +0.25% FTSE 100 - Risers TUI AG Reg Shs (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (TUI) 1,221.00p +3.21% Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) (BDEV) 556.00p +2.58% Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) (TW.) 160.50p +2.49% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 625.50p +1.96% Mondi (MNDI) 1,364.00p +1.87% Next (EUREX: NXTI.EX - news) (NXT) 7,310.00p +1.18% Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) (ANTO) 732.00p +1.10% CRH (CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) ) 1,850.00p +1.09% Schroders (SDR) 3,376.00p +1.08% Diageo (DGE) 1,958.50p +1.08% FTSE 100 - Fallers InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,616.00p -1.51% Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) (BARC) 254.80p -1.41% Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK.L - news) (TPK) 1,968.00p -1.25% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,774.00p -1.00% Whitbread (WTB) 5,295.00p -0.75% SABMiller (SAB) 3,639.00p -0.71% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,582.50p -0.53% Capita (CPI (Other OTC: CPICQ - news) ) 1,196.00p -0.50% Kingfisher (KGF) 365.60p -0.44% BP (BP.) 442.30p -0.42% FTSE 250 - Risers Hunting (HTG) 530.00p +6.00% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 241.50p +4.46% Bellway (BWY) 2,090.00p +4.29% Redrow (RDW) 358.60p +4.12% Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,763.00p +3.34% Polymetal International (Other OTC: AUCOY - news) (POLY) 568.00p +2.53% Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 1,001.00p +2.46% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 554.00p +2.12% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 653.00p +2.03% Acacia Mining (Other OTC: ABGLF - news) (ACA) 269.90p +1.85% FTSE 250 - Fallers Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 270.00p -5.59% Card Factory (LSE: CARD.L - news) (CARD) 285.40p -4.23% Serco Group (Other OTC: SECCF - news) (SRP) 178.10p -2.46% Ophir Energy (Other OTC: OPGYF - news) (OPHR) 133.90p -1.69% Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) (TLW) 308.50p -1.66% Entertainment One Limited (Other OTC: ENTMF - news) (ETO) 324.60p -1.64% AA (AA.) 420.10p -1.64% Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,065.00p -1.39% SSP Group (LSE: SSPG.L - news) (SSPG) 300.40p -1.38% Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 360.70p -1.18% FTSE TechMARK - Risers Kofax Limited (NasdaqGS: KFX - news) (DI) (KFX) 733.50p +45.83% Innovation Group (Other OTC: INVGF - news) (TIG) 29.25p +0.86% Consort Medical (Other OTC: CSRMY - news) (CSRT) 863.00p +0.82% Anite (AIE) 89.00p +0.28% KCOM Group (LSE: KCOM.L - news) (KCOM) 95.50p +0.26% FTSE TechMARK - Fallers Oxford Biomedica (LSE: OXB.L - news) (OXB) 12.25p -2.00% Skyepharma (SKP) 316.75p -1.40% Oxford Instruments (LSE: OXIG.L - news) (OXIG) 871.50p -1.19% BATM Advanced Communications Ltd (LSE: BVC.L - news) . (BVC) 13.25p -0.93% Spirent Communications (Other OTC: SPMYY - news) (SPT (Taiwan OTC: 8431.TWO - news) ) 89.00p -0.84% NCC Group (LSE: NCC.L - news) (NCC (LSE: 0OFP.L - news) ) 201.50p -0.74% Vectura Group (LSE: VEC.L - news) (VEC) 149.75p -0.66% RM (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) .) 142.25p -0.52% Dialight (DIA) 771.50p -0.45% E2V Technologies (LSE: E2V.L - news) (E2V) 199.25p -0.38%