LONDON, April 15 — London’s FTSE 100 edged higher today, boosted by gains in heavyweight mining and consumer staple stocks, while a jump in shares of Travis Perkins on higher quarterly sales growth pushed the midcap index to a record high.
The blue-chip index rose 0.4 per cent, with shares of British gambling group Entain gaining 1.9 per cent after its quarterly online net revenue leapt by 33 per cent even as shop closures dragged its total net gaming revenue.
Miners added 1.2 per cent, providing the biggest boost to the index as they tracked higher metal prices.
The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index climbed 0.3 per cent to touch 22,426.87 after Britain’s biggest building materials seller said its first quarter like-for-like sales (excluding Wickes) grew 17.4 per cent. Its shares rose 2.6 per cent.
The index was also supported by gains in travel and leisure and homebuilding stocks.
“Investors are buying these sectors to play the reopening trade and a general recovery in interest for UK stocks after a long period of being in the doldrums,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The FTSE 100 has gained nearly 8 per cent so far this year on optimism Brexit-related underperformance was behind, and speedy vaccine rollouts and policy support from government would fuel a stronger economic re-opening from the pandemic-driven crash.
Globally, Asian markets slipped, dragged down by Chinese stocks on fears of monetary policy tightening, while investors awaited a reading on US March retail sales data to gauge the pace of recovery in the world’s largest economy.
“US retail sales for March are the day’s highlight. It is unwise to ever bet against the hedonism of the US consumer — and in March, the US consumer was further fuelled by checks from the government,” said Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management in a note.
Among other stocks, home improvement retailer Kingfisher advanced 1.9 per cent after Citigroup upgraded it to “neutral” from “sell”.
Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser Group and Diageo gained between 0.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent after HSBC raised its price targets on the stocks. — Reuters
