The FTSE 100 sprung into Friday at the end of a rocky week, with European stocks taking their cues from an intraday rebound on Wall Street.
Supporting London’s blue-chip index were banks and energy firms, while Ukraine-focused Ferrexpo charged to the top of the FTSE 250 as it reported steady iron ore pellet production despite Russia's invasion.
The FTSE 100 index was up 68.25 points, or 0.9%, at 7,620.06 early Friday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 117.37 points, or 0.6%, at 21,155.17. The AIM All-Share index was up 3.23 points, or 0.3%, at 1,053.95.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 1.0% at 758.74. The Cboe 250 was up 0.6% at 18,580.29, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.2% at 15,360.21.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 1.2%.
Wall Street recovered from steep intraday losses to end on a positive note on Thursday, even as investors braced for tighter monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve.
The momentum fed through to European stock markets at the end of the week, with large-cap lenders in London such as Standard Chartered, Barclays and NatWest rising 2.8%, 2.6% and 2.0% respectively as banks look ahead to a higher interest rate world.
Oil majors such BP and Shell climbed as Brent oil prices returned above the $100-a-barrel mark. BP was up 2.9% in early trade and Shell up 2.6%.
Brent was quoted at $100.93 a barrel on Friday morning, up from $99.08 a barrel Thursday evening.
In the FTSE 250, Ferrexpo was the best performer, up 12%. The iron ore pellet producer reported total iron ore pellet production of 2.7 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2022, in line with the same period in 2021, and 11% below the fourth quarter due to operational and logistical constraints following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukraine-focused miner said production continued to comprise entirely of high grade forms of iron ore, which are those with an iron ore grade of 65% Fe or above. It also generated first-quarter sales of 2.6 million tonnes, scaling production activities to meet accessible pellet demand.
Logistics pathways to Europe via rail and barge remain open, while activities at the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi continue to be suspended, it explained.
‘We all hope for a swift resolution, this war appears set to continue indefinitely. No doubt as the market learns that Ferrexpo is still a robust, cash-generating company, capable of paying dividends - it will likely become an attractive yield play. However, we would not expect Ferrexpo to materially re-rate until the war ends,’ said Liberum analyst Ben Davies.
CMC Markets was up 5.0% after the online trading company said it expects its annual profit to come at the upper end of forecasts after enjoying its ‘strongest quarter’ of its financial year.
The online trading company said its net operating income performance for the year ended March 31 will be a non-pandemic record. CMC saw a bump in fortunes during the pandemic amid market volatility.
CMC said the fourth quarter was the strongest quarter of if its financial year, pushing annual net operating income to the top end of guidance at around £280 million.
This would represent a 32% fall from £409.8 million a year prior, a period boosted by the pandemic. Compared to financial 2020, net operating income is up 11% from £252.0 million.
Operating costs for financial 2022, excluding variable remuneration, are expected to be £173 million, up from £168 million the year before. The increase primarily reflects higher personnel costs to deliver strategic objectives, CMC explained.
Volution Group was up 4.0% after Jefferies upgraded the ventilation products supplier to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.
Johnson Matthey was up 1.0% after the speciality chemicals company said it anticipates its recently-ended financial year will meet market expectations, following a recovery for its Clean Air business.
The London-based company said for its year ended March 31, underlying operating profit is likely to meet market consensus expectations of around £549 million, within a range of £528 million to £572 million.
This would be around 8.9% higher than underlying operating profit of £504 million in financial 2021.
At the other end of the midcaps, International Public Partnerships was the worst performer, down 4.1% at 163.60 pence. The infrastructure investment company said it will launch a placing, open offer, offer for subscription and intermediaries offer at an issue price of 159.50p each.
The issue price represents a discount of 6.5% to the closing price of 170.60p on Thursday.
On AIM, Jet2 was up 3.5% after the budget airline guided to a slightly widened full-year loss but pointed to an improvement in travel conditions towards the end of its financial year.
The travel operator expects a loss before foreign exchange revaluation and tax for the year ended March 31 of between £378 million and £383 million. This compares with the £373.8 million loss it reported the year before.
The firm reported a hit over winter from the Omicron variant and the reimposition of international travel restrictions, but said the relaxation of UK travel restrictions in early 2022 has resulted in a material increase in bookings with average load factors for February and March approaching seasonal norms.
Positively, average load factors for the Summer 2022 season are only just behind pre-virus levels.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended up 0.5%.
The dollar was higher across the board. The euro was priced at $1.0852, down from $1.0900. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥124.06 in London, up from JP¥123.85.
The pound was quoted at $1.3032 early Friday, down from $1.3057 at the London equities close Thursday.
Gold stood at $1,930.82 an ounce, soft against $1,931.30.
The main data print on a quiet Friday will be wholesale inventories from the US at 1500 BST.
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