Hopes about Chinese economy boost FTSE’s miners
The index ended the day up 0.1%, or 7.96.
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Your support makes all the difference.Shares in London were lifted higher on Wednesday thanks to a boost for the country’s natural resources sector.
The FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.1%, or 7.96, to 7,602.74.
It came thanks to strong performance from mining giants, with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto being some of the best performers on the day. Each of them saw their shares rise by 2% or more.
“A rebound in energy and commodity prices is helping to support the FTSE 100, on optimism over Chinese demand, which over the past few weeks has been predominantly negative,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
In Germany, the Dax index closed up 0.5%, the same as France’s Cac 40.
Mr Hewson said that markets were expecting the US Federal Reserve to halt its interest rate increases when it announced its decision later on Wednesday.
“It’s been another positive session for markets in Europe with the Dax pushing up to a new record high, edging past its previous peaks back in May, with markets increasingly taking the view that the Fed could well be done when it comes to hiking rates,” he said.
“Another soft inflation reading, this time on the PPI measure has helped to feed this narrative and will pose a challenge to a Fed that wants to keep the option of further rate hikes on the table.”
In the US, the S&P 500 had gained 0.5% shortly before European markets closed, while the Dow Jones was trading down 0.2%.
The pound gained 0.7% to around 1.27 dollars to the pound, and 0.1% to 1.17 euros.
In company news, oil giant Shell angered green campaigners as it dropped its plan to reduce its oil production by between 1-2% per year until 2030.
The business claimed that it had already met the pledge, as it released a wider programme trying to convince markets that its shares are under-priced.
However the presentation by executives in New York did not boost shares much. They rose by 0.5% during the day.
Elsewhere, Vodafone and Three UK said they had struck a deal to create a £15 billion mobile phone network, the largest in the country.
Vodafone – whose shares rose 2.7% – will serve 27 million customers after buying Three, which is owned by CK Hutchison.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Smith & Nephew, up 57p to 1245.75p, Antofagasta, up 68.5p to 1576p, Anglo American, up 109p to 2592p, Glencore, up 13.25p to 473.27p, and CRH, up 108p to 4028p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Entain, down 115p to 1206.5p, BT, down 3.85p to 136.8p, Hargreaves Lansdown, down 19p to 844.4p, AstraZeneca, down 230p to 11,510p, and Flutter Entertainment, down 270p to 15,505p.