The FTSE 100 advanced 0.65% to 7,062 on Thursday, with the top riser being ratcatcher Rentokil after it said its core businesses had all returned to growth.
“The UK market saw investors flock to stocks that would benefit from economic expansion, principally commodities producers and banks,” says Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.
More broadly, across the world, global markets cannot seem to make their mind up.
“After the debacle involving a big sell-off in China-related stocks, Asian markets staged a big comeback with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index up 3.1% and China’s SSE advancing by 1.5% on chatter that Beijing wouldn’t be overtly draconian towards Chinese companies with listings in foreign markets if they kept in line with local laws,” said Hewson
Regulatory interference has been behind the recent slump in China-related stocks and there have been growing fears this would lead to investors turning their backs on the growing number of Chinese companies listed in places like New York.
FTSE 100 Top Movers
Rentokil (5.8%), Anglo-American (4.36%) and Shell (3.63%) are leading the way atop the FTSE 100 on Thursday, having each released positive results.
At the other end, Smith and Nephew (-7.66%), BT Group (-7.11%) and SSE Group (-4.43%), have been dragging back the UK index.
