London’s FTSE 100 Books Weekly Gains as Financials, Miners, and Chemicals Advance
FTSE 100 Performance and Sector Highlights
July 3 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 ended higher on Friday and notched a weekly gain, supported by financials, while higher gold prices lifted precious metals miners.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.2% at 10,679.03 points, while the midcap FTSE 250 climbed 0.5%.
Financials Sector Leads the Gains
• The financials sector gained ground, led by Close Brothers Group, up 7.9%, while Lion Finance Group and Standard Chartered advanced 2.8% and 1.5% respectively.
Precious Metals Miners Benefit from Gold Prices
• Precious metals miners gained 1.4%, tracking higher gold prices after weak U.S. jobs data reduced expectations of a near-term Federal Reserve rate hike. [GOL/]
Chemicals Sector Outperforms
Johnson Matthey’s Regulatory Approval
• Chemicals led sectoral gains, advancing 2.5%, with Johnson Matthey up 4.9% after the firm received Chinese regulatory approval for the divestment of its Catalyst Technologies business to Honeywell. It said it expects the deal to close by the end of August.
Bank of England Policy and Market Expectations
Comments from Policymaker Catherine Mann
• Meanwhile, Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann said on Thursday that a reduction in markets' expectations for BoE rate increases since June's Monetary Policy Committee meeting would be a key factor in her decision on rates at the end of this month.
Business Price Expectations and Economic Activity
Bank of England Survey Findings
• Separately, British businesses showed no signs of easing their price expectations in June despite a de-escalation of the Iran war that had sent energy costs surging, a Bank of England survey showed.
Services Sector Contraction
• Activity in Britain's dominant services sector contracted for a second month running in June and by the most since early 2023, a closely watched survey showed, as the fallout from the Iran war continued to weigh on companies.
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Porter)
