London midday: FTSE gains as housebuilders rally; US CPI eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains by midday on Wednesday, with housebuilders and property companies pacing the advance, as investors eyed a key inflation reading across the pond and more US bank earnings.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 10,685.28, while Brent crude was up 0.7% at $106.43 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 1.2% higher at $95.27.

The US consumer price index for September is due at 1330 BST. Investors were also turning their attention to quarterly earnings from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock, following numbers from JPMorgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo on Tuesday.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said the consumer price index is expected to show a 0.6% rise month-on-month, up from 0.4% in August, with inflation annualised to 3.6% from the previous 3.4% largely due to higher energy prices.

"However, if the reading were much hotter than expected, it would throw doubt on the current 80% consensus that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged later this month," he said.

In equity markets, rate-sensitive housebuilding stocks rallied as gilt yields fell, with the 10-year yield down by more than five basis points and on course for its best daily performance in three weeks.

Barratt Redrow, Vistry and Bellway were among the top performers, with property stocks British Land, Land Securities and Great Portland Estates also higher.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, pointed to commentary from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and chief economist Huw Pill. "Pill was sceptical that four rate hikes are needed for the UK in the next year, which is leading to a recalibration in UK interest rate swaps pricing," she said.

"In general, comments from the world's most senior central bankers have been moderately dovish this week. Huw Pill and the ECB's Christine Lagarde have both said that second round effects from the energy price spike are not a problem at this stage. This reduces the need for central banks to hike rates as aggressively as the market currently expects."

Big Yellow rallied after activist investor Ancora Holdings Group said the self-storage company should explore a sale.

Chemring shot up after saying that its Roke subsidiary has signed a multi-year strategic partnering agreement with a major US prime contractor worth at least $170m over the first five years.

Investment manager Ashmore rose as it said assets under management edged up by $500m to $54.5bn in the first quarter, with $1.1bn of net inflows more than offsetting $600m of negative investment performance.

Rio Tinto nudged lower despite saying it remains on track to unlock around $5bn of capital by the end of 2026 after a strong operational performance helped third-quarter iron ore sales from its Pilbara operations beat market expectations. The mining giant shipped 85.7m tonnes of iron ore in the three months to 30 September, up 2% year-on-year and ahead of analyst forecasts of 84.41m tonnes.

Softcat slid even as it hailed another year of "exceptional" growth, posting a rise in profit and gross invoiced income, driven by a "very strong", broad-based performance.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,685.28 0.33%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,520.26 0.74%

techMARK (TASX) 6,168.35 0.19%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 300.50p 2.87%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,065.50p 2.70%

British Land Company (BLND) 408.60p 2.66%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 907.20p 2.46%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 627.50p 2.11%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 235.60p 1.99%

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 178.50p 1.88%

Diageo (DGE) 1,736.00p 1.37%

Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,894.00p 1.31%

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 16,680.00p 1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 280.60p -2.16%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,116.00p -1.99%

Computacenter (CCC) 5,590.00p -1.84%

Admiral Group (ADM) 3,660.00p -1.61%

Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 12,530.00p -1.03%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,531.00p -0.86%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,264.00p -0.84%

Abrdn (ABDN) 237.40p -0.75%

Standard Life (SDLF) 869.50p -0.74%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,861.00p -0.69%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Big Yellow Group (BYG) 851.00p 6.51%

Vistry Group (VTY) 231.60p 4.70%

Travis Perkins (TPK) 594.00p 4.12%

Chemring Group (CHG) 519.00p 3.94%

Great Portland Estates (GPE) 322.40p 3.93%

Unite Group (UTG) 443.40p 3.55%

XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 2,025.00p 3.53%

Workspace Group (WKP) 370.60p 3.40%

Bellway (BWY) 2,022.00p 3.37%

Pennon Group (PNN) 329.00p 3.26%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Softcat (SCT) 1,798.00p -5.91%

Keller Group (KLR) 3,168.00p -3.06%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 205.60p -2.56%

IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 361.50p -1.90%

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 379.00p -1.81%

RTW Biotech Opportunities Ltd (RTW) 2.23p -1.76%

Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI) (UEM) 294.00p -1.34%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 1,468.00p -1.34%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 102.60p -1.16%

Man Group (EMG) 341.00p -1.04%