FTSE 100 close: London climbs as miners rise on China stimulus and Lloyds jumps into green
London’s FTSE 100 climbed into the green on Wednesday thanks to a strong performance from its mining stocks on the back of stimulus measures from China.
The FTSE 100 closed 0.33 per cent higher at 7,414.34, although the FTSE 250 closed 0.73 per cent lower at 16,870.71.
The FTSE was lifted by a strong performance from its mining giants after the Chinese government announced moves to boost its stumbling economy.
Late last night the government confirmed that it would issue sovereign debt worth around 0.8 per cent of GDP to support infrastructure investment in areas hit by natural disasters.
Shares in Rio Tinto climbed 1.9 per cent, rising to the top of the FTSE 100. Antofagasta climbed 1.4 per cent while Glencore rose 1.2 per cent. China’s demand for resources supports many of the FTSE’s mining giants.
HSBC and Standard Chartered, both of which have large presences in China, also climbed modestly. Standard Chartered release results for the third quarter tomorrow morning.
Shares in Lloyds jumped into the green, closed 2.3 per cent higher having traded lower earlier in the day.
The high street lender more than tripled its profit and reaffirmed its guidance, but investors were cautious of the bank after it revealed competition for deposits had eroded its margins.
“Lloyds’ retail deposit base has put in a steady performance over the quarter as it managed to keep hold of savers looking for better rates,” said Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Lloyds did see a three per cent dip in current account values and has seen over £9bn in outflows year to date, but was able to make up for the loss this quarter with inflows into its savings products.”
Investors will watch for results from Natwest on Friday for further detail on the state of retail banking.
Shares in Reckitt dropped more than four per cent as a share buyback programme could not compensate for lower than expected sales.