UK's FTSE 100 rises on mining boost; Fed decision awaited (updated)

Sts Holding SA

14/06/2023 09:47

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets,
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(Updated at 1550 GMT)

        * 
      Retail, films drive modest UK economic growth 
    

        * 
      Entain to buy Polish betting operator, shares slump
    

        * 
      Vodafone gains after $19 bln deal with CK Hutchison
    

        * 
      Aston Martin gains on Jefferies rating upgrade
    

        * 
      FTSE 100 up 0.1%, FTSE 250 down 0.1% 
    

  
    By Shashwat Chauhan, Khushi Singh
       June 14 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday as
mining stocks extended gains, tracking higher metal prices,
while Robert Walters' profit warning weighed on fellow
recruitment firms listed on the midcap index.
The resource-heavy FTSE 100  .FTSE  rose 0.1%, its third
straight session of gains.
     Industrial metal miners  .FTNMX551020  continued their
recent rally, gaining 2.8% as copper prices rose on a softer
dollar and expectations of further stimulus to boost growth in
top consumer China.  MET/L 
    The domestically focused FTSE 250  .FTMC  midcap index edged
0.1% lower as recruitment firms Hays  HAY.L  and Pagegroup
 PAGE.L  lost 6.3% and 6.2%, respectively, following Robert
Walters'  RWA.L  warning that its profit may be significantly
lower than market expectations.
     Robert Walters shares tanked 13.7%.
     Investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on
interest rates later in the day, while the European Central Bank
will announce its decision on interest rates on Thursday. 
  
     "The path that the Fed sees for interest rates in the U.S.
is going to set the tone for global markets for the rest of this
month," said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM.
  
    Official UK data
     showed retailers and the film industry helped Britain's
economy inch higher in April, despite contractions in
manufacturing and construction, reflecting slow growth rather
than recession.
  
A strong labour market report on Tuesday increased the odds for
the Bank of England to raise rates once again when it meets next
week.
     Vodafone  VOD.L  gained 0.6% after the mobile operator and
CK Hutchison  0001.HK  struck a $19 billion deal to merge their
British mobile operations.
     Gaming company Entain  ENT.L  dropped 8.7% on a deal to buy
Poland's STS Holdings  STH1.WA .
    Aston Martin  AML.L  advanced 7.1% after Jefferies upgraded
the luxury carmaker's rating to "hold" from "underperform".
    Games Workshop Group  GAW.L  jumped 5.9% after the miniature
wargame maker forecast higher full-year earnings. 
    British equities have seesawed in a narrow range for the
last few sessions on concerns over persistent BoE rate hikes and
volatility in commodity prices.
  
     
    text_section_type="notes"     For related prices, Reuters
users may click on - *   UK stock report  .L    FTSE index:
 0#.FTS6    techMARK 100 index:  .FTT1X  FTSE futures:  0#FFI:  
 Gilt futures:  0#FLG:  Smallcap index:  .FTSC    FTSE 250
index:  .FTMC  FTSE 350 index:  .FTLC    Market digest:  .AD.L 
Top 10 by vol:  .AV.L    Top price gainers:  .NG.L  Top %
gainers:  .PG.L    Top price losers:  .NL.L  Top % losers:
 .PL.L          * For related news, click on - *   UK hot
stocks:  HOT  and  GB  Wall Street:  .N    Gilts report:  GB/ 
Euro bond report  GVD/EUR    Pan European stock report:  .EU   
Tokyo stocks:  .T  HK stocks:  .HK    Sterling report:  GBP/ 
Dollar report:  USD/          * For company prices, click on - *
  Company directory:  UKEQ  By sector:  FTAX          * For
pan-European market data, click on - *   European Equities speed
guide................  EUR/EQUITY    FTSE Eurotop 300
index...........................  .FTEU3    DJ STOXX
index...................................  .STOXX    Top 10 STOXX
sectors........................  .PGL.STOXXS    Top 10 EUROSTOXX
sectors...................  .PGL.STOXXES    Top 10 Eurotop 300
sectors..................  .PGL.FTEU3S    Top 25 European pct
gainers....................  .PG.PEUR    Top 25 European pct
losers.....................  .PL.PEUR   

(Reporting by Ankika Biswas, Shashwat Chauhan and Khushi Singh
in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and
Richard Chang)
((mailto:Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com))