London’s blue-chip stocks recovered some of yesterday’s losses, with the miners back on the risers list.
A better than anticipated Chinese inflation figure, at 1.5% against the 1.4% forecast, did the trick after disappointing import and export data from the country earlier this week.
Connor Campbell, at spread-betting firm Spreadex, said: “[The data] appears to have helped matters this morning following Tuesday’s unexpectedly weak trade data; at the very least, the slight improvement didn’t make things any worse.”
Tuesday’s heaviest fallers were among the top risers this morning, with BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) up 3.3% or 24p to 747p, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) climbing 3% or 57p to 1,950p and Anglo American (LON:AAL) around 1.5% higher to 328p.
Copper was the main driver behind the share price movements, Spreadex’s Campbell said, as the metal rose more than 1%, leading the miners to “some kind of (relatively insufficient) recovery.”
The miners helped boost the FTSE100, which was around 25 points to the good at 6,159.
Ashtead (LON:AHT) was the big gainer on the index, however, as the equipment hire group reported a 25% leap in second quarter pre-tax profit to £176.5mln from £141.7mln.
Rental revenue for the quarter rose to £589mln from £477mln. Shares rocketed around 9%, or 94p, to 1,125p.
Away from the index, Entertainment One’s (LON:ETO) shares rebounded after plummeting on Tuesday.
The firm has changed its debt facility, and Peel Hunt downgraded its forecasts for the year.
But the company reminded investors that it is in line with expectations for the year, sending shares 8.4% higher to 152p.
Also higher in the mid-cap space was construction group Carillion (LON:CLLN), which unveiled new business worth about £1bn and said it was seeing signs of improvement in its markets. Shares gained 5.5%, or 16p, to 318p.
In the small cap arena, Motive Television (LON:MTV) is teaming up with ABT Africa to provide broadband to children in South Africa.
The deal is potentially worth more than US$2.5mln, and shares, which have been on the slide recently, jumped 28% to 0.02p.
Also higher was Westminster Group (LON:WSG), which won another airport security deal.
The group announced a memorandum of understanding for a new long term contract with what it describes as “a significant international airport”. Shares climbed 5% to 21p.
Conversely, Rose Petroleum (LON:ROSE) has scaled back its exploration efforts as it said drilling a single self-funded well in the current oil price environment is “ill advised”. Shares slipped around 18% to 0.09p.