London stocks swing to gains after metal prices help afternoon rally
London’s top flight closed 9.49 points, or 0.12%, higher to end the day at 7,669.23.
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The FTSE 100 inched higher at the close of trading after a late upturn, despite spending almost all of the session in the red.
A poor morning session from mining and commodity firms was largely undone in an afternoon rally, amid positivity in China and rising metal prices.
London’s top flight closed 9.49 points, or 0.12%, higher to end the day at 7,669.23.
Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index, said: “London-listed stocks with exposure to China rallied, while also helping the FTSE 100 was rising metal prices as copper joined gold and silver in gaining ground.
“So after underperforming global indices, the FTSE may finally stage a rally to join global peers in hitting record highs.”
Elsewhere in Europe, there were also improvements later in the session, but not sufficiently to drag the other main markets into positive territory.
The German Dax index was down 0.38% at the close and the Cac 40 in France closed down 0.1%.
Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones had a cautious opening ahead of important inflation data on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, sterling’s recent rally faltered ahead of key labour market data on Tuesday, after it had risen to the highest level against the dollar since August last week.
As a result, the pound was down 0.4% at 1.280 US dollars and was 0.25% lower at 1.172 euros at market close in London.
In company news, Currys shares closed lower after a US suitor for the electronics retailer pulled out of takeover talks, saying its proposed offers had been rebuffed.
Elliott Advisors, which also owns Waterstones, said it does not intend to make an offer for Currys, after hopes it could be at the centre of a bidding battle amid rival interest from Chinese firm JD.com.
Shares in Currys fell by 3.5p to 61p as a result.
Vanquis Banking halved in value after the specialist lender warned over profits following a surge in costly claims and a blow to its income from an overhaul of products and pricing.
The group told shareholders it saw “significant levels of third-party complaint submissions”, largely relating to credit cards.
Vanquis shares finished down 62.1p at 62.1p.
High street giant Marks & Spencer made gains to climb to its highest level since January after it received an upgrade from brokers at RBC Capital Markets.
The retailer’s shares were up 3.5p at 246.3p after it said the stock should be appealing to long-term investors.
Cyber security firm Darktrace climbed by 58.8p to 436.2p after a strong analyst note from Numis followed its positive trading update last week.
The price of oil moved up slightly after it rebounded from Friday’s sell-off.
A barrel of Brent crude oil was up by 0.7% to 82.08 US dollars as markets were closing in London.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Admiral Group, up 125p to 2,698p, Antofagasta, up 55.5p to 1,825p, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, up 54.5p to 1,910p, Imperial Brands, up 48p to 1,740.5p, and AstraZeneca, up 254p to 10,450p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were St James’s Place, down 16.7p to 453.7p, SSE, down 37p to 1,613p, Airtel Africa, down 1.9p to 93.85p, Centrica, down 2.55p to 130.2p, and ConvaTec, down 5.2p to 280.8p.