London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 6,894.94 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
British Gas owner Centrica was among the risers after an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Citi. There shares fell sharply on Monday following reports UK ministers are pressing ahead with a renewable energy windfall tax.
Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential were all under the cosh after the Bank of England announced that it has widened its emergency bond-buying programme to include index-linked bonds, which are linked to inflation.
It noted that the start of this week has seen a “further significant repricing” of UK government debt, particularly index-linked gilts. “Dysfunction in this market, and the prospect of self-reinforcing ‘fire sale’ dynamics pose a material risk to UK financial stability,” it warned.
Banks also fell after the Guardian reported that the boss of Santander UK said the bank was putting aside more money for potential defaults linked to the cost-of-living crisis after seeing a pickup in customers falling behind on mortgage and loan payments.
Mike Regnier told the Guardian that he was keeping a close eye on the “strain and pressure” facing customers as a result of the cost-of living-crisis, which has made it harder for some households to keep up with rising food and energy bills and financial commitments such as home loans.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 70.77p 2.73%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 474.40p 2.00%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 103.50p 1.73%
Haleon (HLN) 275.20p 1.49%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 175.10p 1.21%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,814.50p 1.20%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,945.00p 0.90%
Centrica (CNA) 69.60p 0.81%
Tesco (TSCO) 207.60p 0.73%
GSK (GSK) 1,355.20p 0.68%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 544.60p -4.42%
Aviva (AV.) 383.20p -4.30%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 833.20p -4.19%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 214.70p -4.11%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 426.90p -3.59%
Prudential (PRU) 890.00p -3.47%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,492.00p -3.36%
St James’s Place (STJ) 965.00p -3.29%
3i Group (III) 1,079.00p -3.23%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,021.50p -3.13%
