LONDON (ShareCast) - UK stocks advanced on Thursday morning following a decent performance on Wall Street and Hong Kong indices overnight.
Reports that Greece will meet Thursday's deadline to pay back a €450m loan payment to the International Monetary Fund were also helping sentiment. "The payment has been scheduled and will go out later today," a government official told Reuters.

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 6,971.80 early on, though steep falls in the heavyweight mining sector were limiting upside.

US stocks finished in positive territory on Wednesday night after details of the 17-18 March Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed quite a large disparity among members on when to tighten policy. Some suggested moving as soon as June, while others preferred waiting until later in the year or even 2016, though the main consensus was that the pace of rate increases would likely be gradual.

What's more, that meeting took place before the release of the disappointing March employment report last week, which missed analysts' expectations by a long way and added to speculation that policymakers would hold off from hiking rates just yet.

"We view September as the likely timing for the first rate hike, with some probability that the committee waits until December should core inflation be dragged lower by falling import prices," said analyst Michael Gapen from Barclays.

Asian markets were mostly mixed on Thursday but Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged as much as 6.8% to its highest since January 2008 as investors from mainland China piled in.

BHP, Anglo lead miners lower

Shares in mining giants BHP Billiton and Anglo American slumped after the open after both Credit Suisse and Investec downgraded their ratings on both companies. Both banks expressed concerns about falls in iron ore and coal prices due to structural issues, namely a weaker Chinese economy, together with low cost supply.

Others in the sector such as Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Glencore were also lower.

Burberry was heading higher as the British luxury brand had its target price raised from 1,470p to 1,560p by JPMorgan Cazenove, though the bank maintained a 'neutral' rating.

The stock was also benefitting from positive readacross from sector peer Mulberry which said it expected full-year profits to be slightly ahead of forecasts following a series of warnings.

Hotels group IHG was in demand after Jefferies upgraded the stock to 'hold' and lifted its target price from 2,000p to 2,400p.

Sausage-maker Cranswick impressed with a strong finish to its fiscal year, with total sales in the fourth quarter up 4% on the same period last year after its recent acquisition of Benson Park. Full-year underlying sales are expected to be flat, as City analysts expected.

Developer St Modwen Properties was higher after reporting that commercial contracts and planning agreements for the regeneration of the 57-acre New Convent Garden Market near Battersea have gone unconditional. Work is expected to start this summer.



Market Movers
techMARK 3,226.22 +0.72%
FTSE 100 6,971.80 +0.50%
FTSE 250 17,624.58 +0.36%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,804.00p +3.50%
Pearson (PSON) 1,470.00p +2.73%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,736.00p +2.32%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,147.00p +2.14%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,389.00p +2.13%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,202.00p +2.04%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,710.00p +1.79%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,206.00p +1.77%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 597.20p +1.74%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 600.50p +1.61%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Anglo American (AAL) 991.30p -3.43%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,431.50p -2.55%
Standard Life (SL.) 470.10p -2.55%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,784.00p -2.44%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,571.00p -1.50%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,740.00p -1.42%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 723.50p -1.30%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,572.00p -1.08%
Fresnillo (FRES) 680.00p -0.87%
St James's Place (STJ) 974.50p -0.81%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,165.00p +2.73%
Henderson Group (HGG) 298.10p +2.40%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 365.70p +2.09%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 161.80p +2.02%
Rank Group (RNK) 189.70p +1.99%
Hays (HAS) 163.60p +1.93%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 357.60p +1.76%
PayPoint (PAY) 885.00p +1.72%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,424.00p +1.71%
BTG (BTG) 778.50p +1.70%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
RPS Group (RPS) 236.50p -3.43%
esure Group (ESUR) 213.40p -3.00%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 179.70p -2.86%
Hunting (HTG) 527.50p -2.41%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 478.80p -2.41%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 341.90p -2.37%
Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 704.50p -2.22%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 216.00p -2.17%
Rotork (ROR) 2,566.00p -2.06%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 59.00p -1.99%

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