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London open: Stocks rise after US gains, ahead of PMIs

By Michele Maatouk

Date: Wednesday 23 Sep 2020

London open: Stocks rise after US gains, ahead of PMIs

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose on Wednesday, taking their cue from technology-led gains on Wall Street as investors eyed the latest readings on the UK manufacturing and services sectors.
At 0855 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 5,876.83, helped along by a weaker pound, which traded down 0.3% against the dollar at 1.2697.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "The UK is heading for a second lockdown-lite, which will dent the recovery and hit some sectors especially hard, but perhaps more importantly this is spurring the chancellor into action. With the furlough scheme slated to end in October, there is a risk of a jobs calamity even without further lockdown restrictions, which are a possibility. Rishi Sunak is reported to be working on new plans to support jobs, which may ease worries among investors that the UK economy could fall off a cliff for a second time just as the Brexit process reaches its finale.

"Individual stocks are putting some very big moves daily which only indicates the kind of dislocation in market pricing, uncertainty about the path of the pandemic and the fact that no one really knows where a lot of these securities ought to be trading. Whether it's value or growth, tech or travel, the unevenness of both the recovery and government policy means it's hard to know what a fair value is. Trying to extrapolate a narrative to fit all of this is often a fool's errand."

On the data front, Markit's manufacturing and services PMIs for September are due at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, 3i Group was the top performer after saying results at its Action discount retail business beat expectations in the past three months as the private equity investor reported mixed trading at its other portfolio businesses.

British Airways and Iberia parent IAG was among the risers after two days of heavy losses on worries over the impact of further Covid-19 restrictions.

JD Sports Fashion also advanced following well-received first-quarter results from Nike.

Diploma surged after raising around £190m in a placing to help fund the £357m acquisition of US-based wire and cable distributor Windy City Wire Cable and Technology Products, and following an upgrade to 'overweight' at JPMorgan. The bank said Diploma was buying a good business at a reasonable price.

Upper Crust and Caffe Ritazza owner SSP Group rallied despite warning of "considerable" job losses and saying it expects second-half sales to plummet by 86% amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hazard detection company Halma was also in the black despite saying it expects 2021 adjusted pre-tax profits to be up to 10% lower and more weighted to the second half.

On the downside, PZ Cussons fell as it said it had a good start to the current financial year but that it expected tougher trading with the UK and other markets in recession.



Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,876.83 0.81%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,978.53 0.93%
techMARK (TASX) 3,748.70 0.87%

FTSE 100 - Risers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 782.20p 2.52%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,443.50p 2.12%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,568.50p 2.12%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 112.70p 1.85%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,950.00p 1.79%
Schroders (SDR) 2,734.00p 1.75%
Diageo (DGE) 2,540.00p 1.68%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,475.50p 1.65%
Aveva Group (AVV) 4,874.00p 1.65%
National Grid (NG.) 850.00p 1.63%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,243.00p -2.74%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,049.00p -0.76%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 160.05p -0.40%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 286.85p -0.09%
DCC (DCC) 6,068.00p -0.07%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,338.00p 0.00%
Kingfisher (KGF) 291.10p 0.07%
SEGRO (SGRO) 950.60p 0.08%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,701.00p 0.09%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 997.20p 0.11%

FTSE 250 - Risers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 270.00p 5.26%
SSP Group (SSPG) 188.60p 4.37%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 45.87p 3.90%
Capita (CPI) 29.00p 3.46%
Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 510.00p 3.34%
Henderson Smaller Companies Inv Trust (HSL) 759.00p 3.12%
Biffa (BIFF) 205.50p 3.06%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,652.00p 2.95%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 276.40p 2.87%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,186.00p 2.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Pets at Home Group (PETS) 290.40p -4.54%
Savills (SVS) 778.00p -2.08%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 199.80p -1.77%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 251.00p -1.72%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 223.00p -1.59%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 281.40p -1.47%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 126.80p -1.40%
Energean (ENOG) 614.40p -1.40%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 212.50p -1.16%
Softcat (SCT) 1,180.00p -0.92%

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