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LONDON (Reuters) – A weaker pound helped Britain increase its stock market index on Wednesday, as corporate profits took center stage, with the Smiths Group having suffered.
FILE PHOTO: The London Stock Exchange Group's offices are seen in the city of London, Great Britain, on December 29, 2017. REUTERS / Toby Melville / Photo File
The FTSE 100 Index. FTSE climbed 0.7%, in line with a broader rebound in European equities as the second quarter earnings season moves up.
EasyJet shares ( EZJ.L ) were among the best performing, up 2.1%, after the low-cost airline revised its forecasts up for the entire year. 2018.
"The stars are aligning for easyJet this year," said Richard Hunter, head of Interactive Investor Markets, highlighting helpful factors such as the disappearance of some competitors from around the world. easyJet.
However, the updates also caused significant losses.
At the bottom of the index, Smiths Group ( SMIN.L ) was down 7% after the engineering company announced that it was down. was expecting a decline in the annual income of his medical unit.
The shares of Royal Mail ( RMG.L ) fell 4.5% as brokers reduced their price targets for the company following Tuesday's update.
Brexit developments and inflation data weighed on the pound, which boosted the FTSE's dollar components.
Although Prime Minister Theresa May got a parliamentary vote earlier in the week and maintained her Brexit strategy, party divisions escalated by threatening the Brexit general election rebels this summer.
"The growing lack of confidence in the ruling party and the political divisions within the British parliament make it more and more difficult for investors to establish a scenario in which any deal, even when it is in force. it can be concluded, would be acceptable to the EU, "said Michael Hewson, Chief Markets Analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Lack of inflation has brought down the pound sterling and has also hurt equities in the Morrisons supermarkets ( MRW.L ), Sainsbury ( SBRY.L ) and Tesco ( TSCO.L ) who benefit from rising commodity prices
More broadly, mining and financial values gave the index the strongest impetus.
BHP Billiton ( BLT.L ), Glencore ( GLEN. L ) and Rio Tinto ( RIO.L ) increased from 1.2 to 2.7 percent as metals the prices have extended their rally.
Brokers have become more positive about mining stocks, Citi analysts arguing that the sector's massive sales create an opportunity for investors to buy at reduced valuations.
Deutsche Bank strategists have passed their recommendation on overweight European miners to be overweight, arguing that Chinese data should rebound and copper prices should rise further .
Report by Kit Rees and Helen Reid; Editing by Gareth Jones
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