FTSE 100 close: London powers into the green thanks to strong performance from Auto Trader and Astrazeneca
London’s FTSE indexes rebounded strongly on Thursday, closing comfortably in the green having started the day lower.
The premier FTSE 100 index ended at 7,455.67 points, 0.73 per cent higher, while the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 index was 1.07 per cent higher at 18,037.85.
The bluechip index was lifted by strong results from Auto Trader. Its shares closed up 8.5 per cent
The car company said in the six months to September, its core marketplace revenue grew by nine per cent, while profit was up 10 per cent. It also said operating profit margins were above 70 per cent.
Shares in pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca also rose 2.7 per cent after it revealed a new $2bn deal with Eccogene for a diabetes and obesity drug.
“With the number of people living with cardiometabolic conditions and obesity today already over one billion, there is a need for continued innovation and next generation therapeutic options,” Sharon Barr, executive vice president at AstraZeneca, said.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Flutter, which is holding on through a downturn in its Australian business while US online gambling is shoring up betting appetite in the US ahead of its upcoming additional float there.
Shares in Flutter sunk over 10 per cent after it said it had experienced a downturn in its Australian business. Revenue fell 18 per cent year-on-year due to regulatory hurdles and a “challenging racing market”.
B&M’s shares were down over three per cent this morning, as it reported a rise in sales while customers are squeezed by high inflation. The the discount retailer said it plans a wave of new stores, including those formerly owned by collapsed rival Wilko.
On the FTSE 250, Wizz Air’s share price dropped nearly ten per cent after the open, following an announcement this morning it had narrowed its annual income guidance for 2024 despite swinging to record profit.
The budget airline said it had been weighed down as engine issues at Pratt & Whitney, a key supplier continue to bite.
Elsewhere, China’s recovery from the Covid lockdowns faced another blow as the economy slipped back into deflation in October.
Robert Carnell, regional head of research, Asia-Pacific, at ING, said that China is not dealing with deflation, but rather “low underlying inflation”.
He said: “Let’s be very clear about what deflation is and what it isn’t. It is a very pernicious situation, where the ‘general price level’ which includes consumer prices, but also other prices such as real and financial assets and money wages decline. And it leads to a sharp slowdown in economic activity as it deters consumer spending and investment.
“What China has right now, is a low rate of underlying inflation, which reflects the fact that domestic demand is fairly weak. What today’s data show is that it doesn’t take much of a negative shock from one of the components to push a low underlying headline inflation rate below zero on a year-on-year basis.
“If you want to use any term ‘disinflation’ would be my preference, but what we are seeing today is mainly the result of a supply excess, rather than a collapse in demand.”