London’s blue-chip stocks ended the session higher as The Bank of England’s ‘Super Thursday’ again a bit of a damp squib.
The BoE’s moment came and went without much incident, with members of the MPC panel voting 8:1 in favour of no change at 0.5% with Ian McCafferty remaining the only hawk.
But caution on the growth outlook and the lack of any increase in the number of hawks on the committee “means that a 2015 move is now a non-starter,” according to Chris Beauchamp at IG.
“Even the first-half of 2016 looks like a long shot at this stage, barring some significant upturn in the global economy,” he added.
The FTSE100 ended the day 38 points to the good, to 6,374 with the companies at the top of the index were a more diverse group compared to yesterday’s mining-dominated bounce.
Leading the index was silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES), up 4.2% to 704p, while, others in the top five included fashion retailer Burberry (LONL:BRBY) and supermarket giant Tesco (LON:TSCO).
“At present it still resembles opportunistic bargain hunting rather than any sustained rise in bullish sentiment,” Beauchamp said.
Meanwhile, near the bottom, High Street bellwether Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) has been down-rated to a ‘sell’ by broker Peel Hunt, which is worried over the quality and appeal of its clothing ranges. Shares dropped 1.9% to 489p.
To the midcap space – and investors breathed a sigh of relief this morning as Tate & Lyle (LON:TATE) updated the market with the news it is on track for its full-year estimates, but they were unimpressed there was not a rise in expectations, and shares eased 1.8% to 569p.
Elsewhere, Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) said it has regained its 7.5% stake in the Onal Complex oil producing fields and the Ezanga block, formerly the Omoueyi exploration block, following an agreement reached with the government of Gabon. Shares nudged 2.2p higher to 244p.
Conversely, Hays (LON:HAS) dropped 6.1% to 136p as the recruiter’s sales growth only just about met estimates for the third quarter.
In the small cap universe, there were a number of big movers late in the day.
Kicking off with SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) up 33% to 6p, which has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Business Innovation – SME category at the Oil & Gas UK Awards held next month.
Meanwhile, Motive Television (LON:MTV) rose 9% on the news that it is launching a new, upgraded, TabletTV app in the US.
Elsewhere, Kromek Group (LON:KMK) has been nominated by the US Department of Defense as the sole source supplier of personal radiation detectors for the SIGMA anti -nuclear terrorist program. Shares gained 18% to 36p.
Africa-focused airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) signed a sales and distribution contract with global carrier Emirates, sending shares soaring 7.5% to 88p.