Economic news

London's FTSE 100 Rises on Boost from Energy, Financial Stocks

  • FTSE 100, FTSE 250 add 0.3%
  • Kingspan sees drop in May, June orders; shares slump
  • Euromoney jumps on $2 bln possible cash offer
  • Easyjet cuts more flights to manage disruption; shares down

June 20 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose on Monday, boosted by gains in energy and financial stocks, after the blue-chip index posted its third straight weekly drop on sluggish economic growth worries.

The index and the domestically focused FTSE 250 index were up 0.3% each. BP and Shell gained 0.8% and 1.3%, respectively, as crude prices rose amid tightening global supplies.

London's main share index fell last week on escalating worries about a recession and bets of bigger interest rate hikes after a cautious raise by the Bank of England.

"This is a reprieve after the poor performance last week - it's hard to find positive economic news and any rallies are expressions of relief that things haven't got materially worse," said Stuart Cole, head-macro economist, Equiti Capital.

Focus is now on UK consumer price index data due Wednesday and PMI, as well as retail sales readings due later this week.

"It would take a brave person to suggest the outlook is looking brighter this morning, given that CPI is expected to continue its rise..., while retail sales numbers are likely to show consumers tightening their belts and reigning in on consumption as the cost of living crisis bites ever deeper," said Cole.

Miners slipped 1.8% after copper prices tumbled on fears that a potential recession would dent metal demand.

Building insulation specialist Kingspan plunged 12.9%, after saying it had seen the mood in most end markets deteriorate, with order intake volume down significantly in May and June.

Euromoney Institutional Investor jumped 24.3% after saying it received a possible cash offer which could value the information services firm at around 1.60 billion pounds ($1.96 billion).

British low-cost carrier easyJet fell 2.5%, as it was cutting more flights in the busy summer period to help manage operational problems.

U.S. markets will be shut on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday.

Reporting by Anisha Sircar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Rashmi Aich

Source: Reuters


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