London’s blue chip stocks opened higher for the first time this week ahead of the keenly anticipated conclusion of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.
Gains were made despite another defiant speech by the Greece prime minster Alexis Tsipras.
Positions between the country and the rest of Europe hardening ahead of the IMF repayment deadline this month and negotiations appear to have stalled.
Fed chair Janet Yellen will be the focus today, however. June was the month when some people expected US interest rates to rise, but September or even perhaps later is now considered more likely.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 113 points or 0.6% to 17,904, while there were similar gains for the other main indices as well.
Back in the UK, the FTSE 100 was 15 points higher to 6,729 led higher by housebuilder Persimmon (LON:PSN).
A strong set of results for rival Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) boosted investor confidence in the sector. Persimmon’s shares rose 20p to 1,979p.
Away from the index, Berkeley was the biggest gainer of the mid-sized companies, gaining 8.5% to 3,429p.
The company posted a pre-tax profit of £539.7m for the year to the end of April, up 42% on the previous year.
Meanwhile, gambling group Betfair (LON:BET) warned that investment was crucial to keep up with rivals. Shares eased 2.8% to 2,442p.
Breon Corcoran, chief executive, said: “The market remains highly competitive and, despite the introduction of the UK point of consumption tax, operators are still spending heavily on marketing and promotions.”
In broker news, insurance company Amlin (LON:AML) was lower after UBs lost faith in the company. The Swiss broker dropped its rating on the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ sending shares 2.3% lower to 474p.
Conversely, Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods (LON:PFD) was higher as Investec sweetened on the stock. It bumped up the company to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and boosted its target price to 51p. Share rose 3% to 42p.
In small caps, Cap-XX (LON:CPX) the creator of the world’s thinnest supercapacitor, said initial feedback from clients have been positive. Shares rose 15% to 3.6p.
It wasn’t the only company to register impressive gains early on. Tertiary Minerals (LON:TYM) jumped 21% to 3.3p after the fluorspar explorer upgraded the resource at its MB project in Nevada.
Elsewhere, internet platform business CentralNic (LON:CNIC) brought in £2.3 million via a premium placing to strengthen the balance sheet. Shares leapt 17% to 40p.
On the other side of the coin, however, Sefton Resources (LON:SER) led the fallers after it raised £800k through a placing of shares at 0.065p.
The company, which recently binned its equity finance facility with Darwin, saw shares ease more than 40% to 0.085p.