Date: Thursday 18 Jun 2015
LONDON (ShareCast) - After an earlier fall, UK stock markets rallied into the afternoon, snapping a four-day losing streak and bouncing off a five-month low as a strong start on Wall Street outweighed ongoing concerns about Greece.
The FTSE 100, which dipped to a low of 6,625.16 in morning trade, finished 27.33 points higher (+0.41%) at 6,707.88. The index fell to 6,680.55 by the close on Wednesday, its lowest finish since mid-January.
As investors continued to watch newsflow from the sidelines of a Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg, sentiment was lifted late on by gains of over 1% across the three main indices in New York, with the Nasdaq Composite reaching a new all-time high.
"A strong US open helped the European markets awaken from their slumber this Thursday, dragging the market as a whole higher," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
The positive start Stateside followed dovish comments from the Federal Reserve the previous day, as the central bank lowered its growth expectations for the US economy this year and assured that any future hike in interest rates would only be gradual.
Furthermore, US inflation data released in the afternoon showed only modest upwards pressure on consumer prices, meaning that policymakers are unlikely to be in a rush to tighten policy. The consumer-price index for May rose by a seasonally-adjusted 0.4%, missing the 0.5% rise expected.
Economic data closer to home may have also helped stocks slightly, with UK retail sales excluding fuel rising 0.2% in May, surprising economists who were expecting a 0.2% decline after 0.8% growth in April.
Elsewhere, finance ministers across Europe met in Luxembourg on Thursday afternoon to discuss the Greek debt crisis, as officials attempt to battle it out over a deal to secure funds for Athens so it can repay €1.6bn to the IMF by the end of June.
Greece has openly admitted that it will not be able to scrape together enough cash to make the 30 June repayment to the IMF, though Athens' lead negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos did say on Wednesday that his country was willing to make concessions to finalise a deal. However, he stressed that proposals to cut pensions were strictly off the table.
At the same time, comments from Greek finance minster Yanis Varoufakis as he arrived in Luxembourg suggested that Athens came to the summit with a new list of proposals to present to creditors. "The purpose is to replace costly discord with effective consensus," he said.
Mining stocks surge
A weaker dollar on dovish Fed comments gave metal prices a boost, lifting stocks across the mining sector including FTSE 100 peers Randgold, Fresnillo, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton.
Miners on the FTSE 250 were also up, such as Acacia Mining and Polymetal.
Blue chips 3i Group and Severn Trent were trading in the red after going ex-dividend.
Shares in Poundland dropped after the discount retailer warned that it faced a number of headwinds in the current financial year, as it posted an 18.6% rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profit.
Technology products and solutions firm Premier Farnell disappointed with a 2% drop in first-quarter gross profits and guidance for a first-half bottom line "marginally below the prior year".
High street bookie William Hill was lower after saying its finance director, Neil Cooper, will step down from his role to become chief financial officer at Barratt Developments. The company assured that "[Cooper] leaves us in excellent financial health".
Market Movers
techMARK 3,148.14 +0.14%
FTSE 100 6,707.88 +0.41%
FTSE 250 17,678.90 -0.15%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,546.00p +2.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 990.70p +2.60%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,120.00p +2.43%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,333.00p +2.38%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,400.00p +2.34%
Fresnillo (FRES) 727.00p +2.11%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,350.00p +1.78%
Centrica (CNA) 275.10p +1.70%
Glencore (GLEN) 276.35p +1.66%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 501.50p +1.62%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
3i Group (III) 517.00p -3.09%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,058.00p -2.88%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,123.00p -1.23%
Pearson (PSON) 1,253.00p -1.10%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 412.70p -1.03%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 909.00p -1.03%
GKN (GKN) 347.10p -0.83%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,003.00p -0.76%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,132.00p -0.70%
Meggitt (MGGT) 468.20p -0.68%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Acacia Mining (ACA) 304.50p +4.86%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 289.10p +3.99%
Polymetal International (POLY) 566.00p +3.85%
NMC Health (NMC) 829.50p +3.69%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,235.00p +2.75%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 965.00p +2.60%
Hays (HAS) 164.00p +2.50%
Countrywide (CWD) 594.50p +2.50%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 352.60p +2.23%
Synergy Health (SYR) 1,768.00p +2.08%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Premier Farnell (PFL) 179.30p -5.48%
Poundland Group (PLND) 300.10p -3.54%
Drax Group (DRX) 358.70p -3.05%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,376.00p -3.02%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 799.00p -2.98%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 177.00p -2.69%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,003.00p -2.62%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 224.60p -2.56%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 162.10p -2.35%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 154.40p -2.28%
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