London midday: Stocks maintain gains as miners rally; ADP eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still firmer by midday on Wednesday, with miners pacing the gains as investors eyed the US ADP report and continued to monitor progress on trade deals ahead of Trump's 9 July deadline.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,808.99.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: "It's a solid day for European equities as all the major indices moved higher amid progress in the US on policy plans to lower taxes and progress with trade negotiations.

"Commodity producers, financials, utilities and industrials led the way on the UK stock market. The fact both risk-on and defensive sectors moved higher would suggest a general sense of optimism among investors.

"The US Senate has passed Donald Trump's tax-cut and spending bill which means the attention now shifts to the House of Representatives for approval. At the same time, there were developments on trade talks between the US and India which gave investors some encouragement. Trump seems optimistic about striking a deal with India, yet there would still be a long list of other countries that need to do the same before 9 July if they want to avoid high tariffs."

Looking ahead to the rest of the day, attention will turn to the ADP report at 1315 BST.

ING said: "ADP is no perfect predictor of official payrolls, but with employment data central to the dovish Fed narrative, market sensitivity to these figures is elevated. Consensus is for a rebound to 96k from 37k. Challenger job cuts will also be in focus."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were among the top performers, with Glencore, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Rio all up.

SSP surged as the hospitality group said its joint-owned Indian operations will be worth up to �1.23bn in a proposed stock market listing in Mumbai as it announced the purchase of an additional stake to give it majority control. The company, which operates convenience food stores and restaurants in travel gateways across 40 countries, plans to list the Travel Food Services joint venture with K Hospitality Corp on 14 July.

Spectris rallied as KKR agreed a deal to the buy precision instrument maker for �4.7bn, trumping a potential offer from rival Advent.

On the downside, Bytes Technology tumbled as it warned that first-half operating profit was set to be "marginally" lower than last year amid a "challenging" macro environment.

Ahead of its annual general meeting, the software, security, cloud and AI services specialist said trading across the first months of the year has been impacted by a challenging macroeconomic environment. This has led to some deferral of customer buying decisions, particularly in the corporate sector.

Bakery chain Greggs slumped as it cautioned that FY25 operating profits may be "modestly below" FY24 despite first-half sales growth.

Greggs said it had made good progress in May but this was followed by slower growth in June as high temperatures affected the UK, increasing demand for cold drinks but reducing overall footfall.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,808.99 0.27%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,621.02 -0.56%

techMARK (TASX) 5,075.48 -0.38%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 303.45p 4.19%

Melrose Industries (MRO) 537.40p 3.35%

BP (BP.) 379.10p 2.95%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,885.50p 2.92%

Mondi (MNDI) 1,239.00p 2.35%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 890.50p 2.29%

Barclays (BARC) 337.20p 2.27%

Anglo American (AAL) 2,220.50p 2.19%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,352.00p 2.06%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,978.00p 2.06%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 254.80p -6.32%

The Sage Group (SGE) 1,179.00p -4.19%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,248.00p -3.89%

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,778.00p -3.33%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 617.00p -2.60%

Next (NXT) 12,230.00p -2.47%

Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 443.30p -2.40%

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 15,850.00p -2.28%

Relx plc (REL) 3,841.00p -2.09%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,137.00p -2.02%

FTSE 250 - Risers

SSP Group (SSPG) 190.50p 9.61%

Tate & Lyle (TATE) 544.00p 4.41%

Spectris (SXS) 3,972.00p 3.71%

Petershill Partners (PHLL) 227.00p 2.71%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,239.00p 2.40%

Pagegroup (PAGE) 271.20p 2.34%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 245.20p 2.04%

Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 83.00p 1.97%

Victrex plc (VCT) 794.00p 1.79%

Carnival (CCL) 1,917.50p 1.78%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 371.40p -26.96%

Greggs (GRG) 1,660.00p -15.95%

Softcat (SCT) 1,610.00p -6.77%

Computacenter (CCC) 2,300.00p -6.28%

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 359.00p -3.23%

Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,260.00p -3.21%

Bellway (BWY) 2,764.00p -2.61%

Pennon Group (PNN) 497.80p -2.39%

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 367.40p -2.39%

Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 125.00p -2.34%