London's key stock index was rallying into the weekend on Friday, supported by its heavyweight mining constituents.
The FTSE 100 index was up 121.99 points, or 1.7%, at 7,384.05 at midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 245.64 points, or 1.3% at 19,125.34. The AIM All-Share index was up 7.41 points, or 0.9%, at 876.77.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 1.6% at 737.51. The Cboe 250 was up 1.2% at 16,453.91, and the Cboe Small Companies up 1.6% at 12,946.47.
‘Even if the hawkish switch from the ECB and the Fed are now seen as almost fully priced in, the risk-on sentiment remains fragile and under the threat of other major lingering concerns such as a slowing Chinese economy, the energy crisis in Europe as well as continuing geopolitical issues,’ said Pierre Veyret at ActivTrades.
The ECB unveiled its largest-ever interest rate rise on Thursday - 75 basis points - as it attempts to restrain inflation, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank must continue to act ‘strongly’ to cool demand and contain price pressures.
EU finance ministers will on Friday scrutinize different measures taken by the bloc's member states to reduce skyrocketing electricity prices and tackle record inflation.
If energy ministers agree on how to tackle rising electricity prices on a European level, the European Commission could put forward a legislative proposal as early as next week.
However, in a further sign of the stresses facing the industry amid turmoil on energy markets, Germany's third-largest gas importer and operator of storage units is expected to petition the Economics Ministry for financial assistance.
VNG, a subsidiary of Energie Baden-Wurttemberg, will be making the application because current conditions are resulting in ‘significant losses due to extra acquisitions of natural gas’. According to the firm, VNG is responsible for providing about a fifth of Germany's gas consumption, particularly in the country's east.
Sterling was quoted at $1.1601 midday Friday, up sharply from
$1.1498 at the London equities close on Thursday.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.6% and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 1.2% higher.
The euro traded at $1.0091 midday Friday, higher than $0.9996 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JP¥141.62, down from JP¥144.00.
In London, miners crowned the blue-chip index, supported by positive economic data from China. Anglo American was up 6.3% in midday trade, followed by Antofagasta and Glencore, both up 5.2%.
China's consumer price inflation eased to 2.5% in August from 2.7% in July, data showed. Expectations, according to FXStreet, were for the annual inflation rate to tick up to 2.8%.
Shares in FTSE 100-constituent London Stock Exchange Group reversed their early morning loss to rise 0.7% around midday.
The UK competition watchdog provisionally cleared the stock exchange operator's acquisition of Quantile, following an in-depth phase 2 inquiry. The regulator was originally concerned the acquisition could ‘potentially disadvantage third party compression providers’, leading to reduced competition.
LSEG said the acquisition will allow it to expand its range of post-trade risk management solutions to its customers.
In the FTSE 250, Computacenter dropped 10%. It reported a fall in interim profit as it faced a tough comparison year due to ‘materially altered’ IT equipment spending during the pandemic.
Pretax profit in the six months to June 30 fell 6.4% to £107.8 million from £115.2 million a year ago.
‘The impact of Covid-19 and the more recent supply shortages for IT equipment materially altered customer buying behaviours in 2020 and 2021, including the split of sales volumes between the first and second halves of the year. In 2021 an abnormally high percentage of our full-year profits came in the first half of the year, which means we have a more challenging comparison for the first half of 2022 than for the second half,’ Computacenter explained.
Cineworld soared 11% on approval from the US Bankruptcy Court for up to $785 million of a $1.94 billion debtor-in-possession financing facility.
The movie house chain said the financing facility is expected to offer sufficient liquidity to meet its ongoing obligations. The approval related to its Chapter 11 proceedings, which began on Wednesday.
On AIM, Tlou Energy sank 26% after being put under investigation in Australia by the country's company and financial services regulator.
The regulator is investigating two releases by the sub-Saharan Africa-focused power company, titled ‘Carbon Neutrality’ and ‘Clean Energy for Botswana and Beyond’.
The investigation is into suspected contraventions by Tlou Energy of three sections of Australia's Corporations Act 2001 and three sections of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission Act 2001.
Looking ahead to the open on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was called 0.7% higher, the S&P 500 up 0.8%, and Nasdaq Composite up 1.0%.
Brent oil was trading at $90.88 a barrel midday Friday, up from $88.57 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1,728.20 an ounce, up against $1,707.91.
