Equities in London underwhelmed heading into Wednesday afternoon, with the mood tempered by another robust UK consumer price index reading, which may force the Bank of England to dig deeper to contain inflation.A hike on Thursday by Threadneedle Street is a foregone conclusion. Wednesday data means a half-point rate lift may be on the table. The BoE had been expected to enact another 25 basis poin

London's FTSE 100 opened up 1.6% to 5,842 points following a strong finish on Wall Street led by big technology names as well as optimistic statements from the governors of New York and California regarding the reopening of businesses.In Asia, China, Japan and South Korea were closed for public holidays while thin trading led to gains in Australia with the ASX 200 up 1.4%.Oil prices extended gains

First half results (18 Jan) from Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust (HSL) reveal a rare period of underperformance.But manager Neil Hermon, who has outperformed the benchmark in 14 of the past 15 financial years, insists his universe 'continues to throw up exciting growth opportunities' and M&A 'remains a supportive feature'.For the six months ended 30 November, the trust delivered a net