Upbeat retail and economic news helped London shares to consolidate gains on Wednesday.
Investors went shopping for shares in Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS), boosting the FTSE 100 Index by 69.53 points to 6453.
The stock rose 16.5p or 3.2% to 537p after the chain reported first-half pre-tax profits 5% ahead of market consensus, according to Investec.
General merchandise like-for-like sales still deteriorated from -0.4% in the first quarter to -1.9% in the second quarter as management latterly focused on full-price sales.
But gross margin was ahead 285 basis points, due to bringing forward some buying gains from supply chain changes, and the company raised its full-year margin guidance to between 200 and 250 basis points.
The broker's Kate Calvert said: "Management appears to be more confident on the general merchandise gross margin opportunity overall."
M&S was high in the Footsie risers, but it was miners who led the way after Chinese service sector data came in better than expected.
Glencore (LON:GLEN) jumped 7.85p to 127.3p. Anglo American (LON:AAL) lifted 37.6p to 599.5p. BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) followed with increases of 36.5p to 1095p and 18p to 553.5p respectively.
Upbeat service sector data lifted spirits in the UK. The business activity index of the Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers index rose to 54.9 in October from 53.3, slightly exceeding the consensus of 54.5.
It prompted some economists to predict that GDP growth would increase to 0.6% in the fourth quarter against the slightly disappointing outcome of 0.5% in the third quarter.
But Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "We continue to think the economic recovery will lose more pace over the coming months as the fiscal squeeze intensifies and a rebound in inflation cools growth in households’ real incomes."
Elsewhere, house builder Persimmon (LON:PSN) fell 45p to 1876p as concerns that the shares were overpriced eclipsed an upbeat third quarter trading statement.
Rivals fell in sympathy, with Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) losing 13.5p to 573p and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) off 6.7p at 181p.
Fastjet (LON:FJET) descended 7.25p to 66.5p on news that Tanzania's presidential election meant its flights were not as busy in October as in previous months.
Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) dropped 0.02p or 1.3% to 1.95p despite saying it had started drilling the best copper/gold targets identified around the Aarja Prospect in Block 4 in Oman.
Forbidden Technologies (LON:FBT) leapt 0.62p or 13.2% to 5.38p as the cloud video specialist unveiled a new contract from US-based production group Leftfield Entertainment.
LONDON OPEN
Investors went shopping for shares in Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) on Wednesday, boosting the FTSE 100 Index.
The stock rose 19p or 3.6% to 539.5p after the chain reported first-half pre-tax profits 5% ahead of market consensus, according to Investec.
General merchandise like-for-like sales still deteriorated from -0.4% in the first quarter to -1.9% in the second quarter as management latterly focused on full-price sales.
But gross margin was ahead 285 basis points, due to bringing forward some buying gains from supply chain changes, and the company raised its full-year margin guidance to between 200 and 250 basis points.
The broker's Kate Calvert said: "Management appears to be more confident on the general merchandise gross margin opportunity overall."
M&S was high in the Footsie risers as the index gained 57 points to 6440. But it was miners who led the way after Chinese service sector data came in better than expected.
Glencore (LON:GLEN) was the top riser with a 7.55p jump to 127p. Anglo American (LON:AAL) was next up, lifting 29.4p to 591.3p. BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) followed with increases of 34.5p to 1093p and 18.5p to 554p respectively.
Elsewhere, house builder Persimmon (LON:PSN) fell 42p to 1879p as concerns that the shares were overpriced eclipsed an upbeat third quarter trading statement.
Rivals fell in sympathy, with Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) losing 13p to 573.5p and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) off 5.4p at 182.3p.
Fastjet (LON:FJET) descended 4.25p to 69.5p on news that Tanzania's presidential election meant its flights were not as busy in October as in previous months.
Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) dropped 0.05p or 2.5% to 1.92p despite saying it had started drilling the best copper/gold targets identified around the Aarja Prospect in Block 4 in Oman.
MARKET PREVIEW
Early gains are predicted for the FTSE 100 Index after healthy rises overnight in both Asia and the US.
Financial spread bet firms see the Footsie adding more than fifteen points when trading gets underway following on from similar gains Tuesday when it closed at 6,398.
US sentiment was buoyed by tech share demand, with the Nasdaq 100 at an all-time high as Google or Alphabet to give it its new corporate name hit a new all-time record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 89 points to 17,918, while Nasdaq overall added 18 to 5,145 with a similar percentage gain for the S&P 500.
Electric car maker Tesla is never far from the headlines and its shares jumped 10% in after-hours trading on a bullish update on its new model X.
Asian markets raced away led by Tokyo when the float of Japan Post proved a runaway success.
The listing was the largest seen around the world this year but its size did not stop the shares racing up 15%.
It helped the Nikkei add 1.3%. Shanghai jumped by more than 4% while Hong Kong gained 2.5%.
Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) is the name to watch this morning for UK company news.
Interim results will be judged as always against last week’s well-received figures from Next.
Its online performance is expected to show double digit growth, an area which Next failed to meet expectations but it is how weak or not General Merchandise sales were that will dominate the headlines.