Banking
FTSE 100 closes higher on earnings boost
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
By Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) -London’s blue-chip stock index edged higher on Thursday, buoyed by upbeat corporate earnings and economic data that bolstered bets of more rate cuts from the Bank of England.
The benchmark FTSE 100 closed up 0.13%, while the domestically focused FTSE 250 slipped 0.2%.
Unilever gained 2.9% after the consumer goods giant beat third-quarter underlying sales estimates, while Barclays rose 4.1% after the British bank reported a forecast-beating 18% rise in third-quarter profit.
A 2.9% jump in Anglo American lifted the industrial metal miners’ sector after the global miner maintained its copper and diamond production forecasts.
Optimism among British firms has sunk in October, according to two surveys published on Thursday, six days before finance minister Rachel Reeves tries to chart a way between raising taxes and boosting growth in the new government’s first budget.
A report said finance minister Rachel Reeves would change the measure of public debt that the government targets in next week’s budget in order to allow more borrowing for investment.
Traders are widely pricing in a 25-basis point rate cut by the BoE at its November and December meetings.
BoE’s interest rate-setter Catherine Mann welcomed a recent fall in inflation but added cooling of price growth still had “a long way to go” for the central bank to hit its 2% inflation target over the medium term.
Among other notable stock moves, IT services provider Softcat jumped 10% after it beat expectations for annual profit.
Bloomsbury Publishing, best known for publishing J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, climbed 8.2% after it forecast a stronger-than-expected annual profit.
In contrast, Abrdn slumped 11.2% to the bottom of FTSE 250 after the fund manager reported deeper-than-expected outflows of client funds.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Sharon Singleton)
The FTSE 100 is a stock market index that represents the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, based on market capitalization.
A rate cut is a reduction in the interest rate set by a central bank, which can stimulate economic activity by making borrowing cheaper.
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power. Central banks aim to control inflation to maintain economic stability.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, responsible for issuing currency, maintaining monetary stability, and overseeing the financial system.
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