London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.5% at 7,481.17 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
JD Sports Fashion jumped to the top of the index on positive read-across from Nike’s second-quarter numbers, which saw shares in the US sportswear firm surge after-hours.
Sports Direct owner Frasers Group was also in the black. AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said investors were seemingly “hopeful that a good showing from Nike means athleisure spending is more resilient than the market previously thought”.
Housebuilders Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey rose. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “Housebuilders are also seeing a bit of a delayed reaction to yesterday’s announcement that the UK government has extended its mortgage guarantee program by one year.
“The program offers financial guarantees to lenders so they can provide 95% mortgages on properties worth £600k, with Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey leading the way.”
Bunzl was on the back foot even as the company said that full-year revenues were set to jump, bolstered by high inflation and acquisitions.
FTSE 100 – Risers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 120.05p 6.00%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 649.80p 4.54%
Next (NXT) 5,716.00p 3.78%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 746.50p 3.47%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,109.00p 3.36%
Abrdn (ABDN) 191.20p 3.35%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 859.00p 3.27%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,226.00p 3.27%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,232.50p 3.01%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 102.50p 2.89%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,782.00p -1.35%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,649.00p -0.64%
Halma (HLMA) 2,046.00p -0.49%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 10,650.00p -0.33%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,010.50p 0.05%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,214.00p 0.19%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,061.00p 0.19%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,118.00p 0.20%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,694.00p 0.21%
BAE Systems (BA.) 853.00p 0.21%
