FTSE 100 powers 1.8% higher
Pound falls to $1.2608
Miners and banks lead the rally
FTSE 100 stocks marched higher on Wednesday with miners the top gainers.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 1.8% higher at 6,902 points – one of its best percentage gains of this year - with miners Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) up 6.6% to 3221.5p and Anglo American (LON:AAL), up 4.8% to 1252p, topping the board.
Banks were boosted by hopes that a rescue package for Italy's Monte Dei Paschi may emerge.
Reuters reported that the Italian state was preparing to take a €2bn stake in the world’s oldest bank.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 ended up 1% at 17,625.
FTSE AIM 100 Index closed up 0.4% at 3883 and the FTSE AIM All-Share Index up 09.3% to 813.
Rising stocks outnumbered the losers across the London bourse, as 41% gained and only 24% fell.
1600 GMT: FTSE 100 makes triple digit gain on Italian bank rescue talk
Miners and banks drive Footsie higher
Top-share index up 104 points
Be Heard making a big noise among small caps
Banks dominated the day’s trading with talk of a rescue of Italy’s beleaguered sector helping FTSE100 add more than 100 points.
Near the close, FTSE100 was up 104 points higher at 6,883 with Barclays 2.8% better at 233.2p, Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) 3.4% higher at 61.5p and Royal Bank of Scotland 3.3% up at 216p.
Even HSBC (LON:HSBA) added 3.4% to 676p despite receiving a €33mln fine for its part in a cartel that rigged Euribor interest rates.
Two other banks, JP Morgan, and Credit Agricole fared much worse with fines of €337mln and €115mln respectively.
But talk of a €15bn EU-backed bail-out, with even the severely distressed Bank Monte dei Paschi in the rescue plan, outweighed everything else.
Details could be unveiled at tomorrow’s ECB meeting and press conference ran the gossip.
On a day of record fines, US drug company Pfizer was hit for £84mln for overcharging the NHS for an anti-epilepsy drug, though other drug stocks shrugged this off with AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) flat at 4,029p.
Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) was the outstanding riser, rising 6.3% to 3,213p, on the back of a raft of bullish broker comment following meetings.
Credit Suisse updated the miner to outperform and raised its target price to £36.
The broker sees iron ore surpluses dwindling as steel production rises and supply growth declines while the balance sheet strength should enable more payouts to shareholders.
BHP Billiton rose 3.8% to 1,360p and Anglo American 4% to 1,244p.
Building services company Bilby PLC (LON:BILB) is to restate its accounts for the year to 31 March 2016.
The shares lost around one-sixth of their value, bringing the company’s market capitalisation down to less than £24mln, as the company said previously reported profit before tax of £1.37mln will be reduced to £718,000.
Shares in CloudTag Inc (LON:CTAG) were on the move again in the afternoon.
Speculation has been rife on the message boards of various stock market sites that the wearable device maker would have some big news before Christmas relating to its health monitoring devices.
On Monday, the company confirmed it expects to receive the first manufactured stock of its wearable device later this month, since when the shares have shot up from 7.78p on Monday’s close to 16.875p at one point today, prompting the company to make an announcement this afternoon expressing mystification at the latest share price surge.
CloudTag said it is currently renewing its product brand names and is planning on announcing a new brand name in December, but unless it is a real humdinger, that is unlikely to be enough to account for today’s share price spike of 29%.
14.09 ...FTSE 100 closes in on triple-digit rise
The Footsie is creeping toward a treble digit gain for the day, despite US markets looking like they will open lower.
The FTSE 100 was up 95 at 6,875, shortly after 2pm.
In the small caps space, a company in which Mineral and Financial Investments Ltd (LON:MAFL) has a stake had the bright idea of re-testing four holes drilled at Lagoa Salgada, in Portugal.
TH Crestgate GmbH, a private Swiss investment company in which the UK company holds a 49% stake, was rewarded for its initiative with 93 metres of mineralisation containing 2.85% of copper equivalent at the Lisbon asset.
Mineral and Financial’s shares advanced 0.75p to 6p, giving the company a market capitalisation of £1.4mln.
The market has given the thumbs-up to the latest acquisition by digital marketing specialists Be Heard Group PLC (LON:BHRD).
The shares rose almost 6% as it said it is buying London-based Kameleon Worldwide, a content marketing agency, in a deal capped at £10mln.
10.09am ... FTSE 100 up 77
Banks and miners continue to drive the top-share index higher, ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) policy meeting tomorrow.
Speculation is rising that the ECB will announce an expansion to its bond purchases programme tomorrow, lifting continental European markets and dragging the UK along in the slipstream.
The FTSE 100 was up 77 points at 6,857, with mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO), up 4.3%, top of the tree, closely followed by emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN), up 4.3%.
Accountancy software giant Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) advanced 1.2% as it confirmed it is mulling the sale of its payments business in North America.
Among the third-liners, LGO Energy PLC (LON:LGO) shot up 21% to 0.13p after it signed a new funding agreement and paid off its existing outstanding debt to BNP Paribas.
This new agreement will allow the company to immediately deploy LGO's current cash reserves, previously locked-up in Trinidad.
Elsewhere in the resources sector, fluorspar specialist Tertiary Minerals PLC (LON:TYM) has agreed in principle to acquire the land and historic mine workings at the Lassedalen project in Norway.
Shares shot up 6% on the news.
8.45am ... FTSE 100 up 58 points
The FTSE 100 got off to a solid start, buoyed by Wall Street’s gravity defying feats as it pushed further into record territory.
Britain’s index of blue-chip shares rose 58 points to 6,838, led higher by miners, banks and exporters.
The influential Credit Suisse this morning updated its coverage of the large diggers with valuation upgrades for Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore.
The banks, meanwhile, were given a boost by a report in Reuters that the Italian authorities are preparing a bail-out for Monte dei Paschi, one of the country’s smaller lenders.
In the forex markets the pound is sinking back towards the US$1.26 level amid the legal wrangling over Britain’s exit from the EU.
6.45am...bright start predicted
London’s blue chips are set for a strong start as Wall Street posted more healthy gains overnight.
Spread betting firms see FTSE100 opening up to 40 points higher. The index closed up 33 yesterday at 6,779.
Brexit will dominate today after Prime minister Theresa May agreed to a Labour proposal to set out a timetable for Britain’s withdrawal.
All this went on while the Supreme Court was debating whether MPs will have the final say on the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38 to a new record of 19,251 as investors positioned themselves for the next round of central bank meetings in the US and Japan.
Asian markets were strong with handy gains in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
On the company front the East Coast rail franchise is the main concern for Stagecoach (LON:SGC) , according to Liberum Capital Markets
In September the bus and rail group warned it was becoming increasingly hard to predict the outcome of the full year and today it posted 15% lower earnings for the half year to October though the dividend went up by 8.6%. Rail was the main problem area.
Headlines
Oops! Britain’s trade deficit with the rest of the world is £6 billion larger than previously thought – The Times
Apple Watch is doing great, says Cook after falling sales claim – The Times
Foreign firms spend €100bn buying British businesses so far in 2016 – The Daily Telegraph
Rio Tinto Boss insists Mongolia dispute is ‘bump in the road’ – Daily Telegraph
Standard Chartered considering Dublin and Frankfurt for EU subsidiary – Daily Telegraph
Spread-betting firms lose £1bn in minutes after watchdog crackdown – The Independent
Samsung does not have to pay Apple US$399mln in patent dispute – The Independent
Pound hits two-month high after Hammond hints at single market access – The Independent
HSBC raises rates and pulls ‘cheapest-ever’ fix – The Guardian
Sorrell not on 'superstar' salary, WPP pay chief tells MPs – The Guardian
Commodities/currencies
US/£ - 1.2653 – down 0.2%
Gold – flat at US$1,168 per ounce
Oil (WTI) – down US$0.31 at US$50.62 a barrel.