London stocks were still in the black by midday on Monday, with miners boosted by firming metals prices, as investors braced for a raft of earnings releases and the Autumn Budget.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,240.93.
Sentiment got a boost as shares of embattled Chinese firm Evergrande rallied after its chairman signalled that it would be concentrating on its growing electric vehicles unit going forward, rather than the troubled property business.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “The FTSE 100 started a new week in robust fashion on Monday despite a lukewarm reaction to better-than-expected results from index heavyweight HSBC.
“The mining sector is doing the heavy lifting, as it did at the end of last week. The coming days look busy as more of the UK’s big companies report on third quarter trading and Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers his latest Budget.”
Investors will also be eyeing some big tech earnings across the pond, with Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet all slated to report this week.
In equity markets, miners were among the top performers as copper prices rose, with Rio, BHP and Glencore all higher.
HSBC advanced after it reported bumper third-quarter profits that smashed expectations and unveiled plans for a share buyback of up to $2bn. The bank’s reported pre-tax profit for the third quarter jumped 75.8% year on year to $5.4bn, well beyond the $3.776bn forecast by analysts in estimates compiled by the bank. Revenue rose 0.7% to $12bn, compared with an expected 3.1% rise.
Elsewhere, Weir Group was lifted by an upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ at Exane.
On the downside, cybersecurity firm Darktrace tumbled after an initiation at ‘sell’ by Peel Hunt, which said there is “a disconnect between the valuation and the ultimate revenue opportunity”.
Online trading platform Plus500 was a touch weaker, giving back earlier gains after it posted a dip in third-quarter earnings but said full-year revenues and underlying earnings were set to be ahead of analysts’ expectations.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,240.93 0.50%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,945.51 0.06%
techMARK (TASX) 4,583.57 -0.05%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,990.00p 2.57%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,767.50p 2.35%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,077.00p 1.70%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,747.00p 1.59%
Barclays (BARC) 201.90p 1.53%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,970.00p 1.49%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 158.36p 1.47%
BP (BP.) 360.05p 1.42%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,480.00p 1.39%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,163.00p 1.35%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,394.00p -2.00%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,776.00p -1.33%
BAE Systems (BA.) 582.00p -1.29%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,651.00p -1.00%
Royal Mail (RMG) 415.90p -0.98%
Abrdn (ABDN) 255.20p -0.97%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 14,280.00p -0.90%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 133.94p -0.86%
Fresnillo (FRES) 908.80p -0.85%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,536.00p -0.84%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Harbour Energy (HBR) 376.00p 3.81%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 194.90p 3.78%
Energean (ENOG) 909.50p 3.18%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 319.80p 2.96%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 183.20p 2.95%
Redde Northgate (REDD) 397.50p 2.45%
Ninety One (N91) 271.80p 2.33%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 553.50p 2.22%
easyJet (EZJ) 609.80p 2.21%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,798.00p 2.16%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Darktrace (DARK) 727.00p -23.11%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 24.26p -3.35%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 241.00p -3.21%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 255.50p -2.85%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 231.10p -2.08%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,082.00p -1.77%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 341.50p -1.73%
NCC Group (NCC) 244.00p -1.61%
Bodycote (BOY) 810.00p -1.46%
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 160.42p -1.24%
