British mid-cap stocks close at over two-year high on earnings optimism
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.
FTSE 100 up 1.2%, FTSE 250 gains 2.3%
US PCE in line with estimates
Focus on Fed, BoE decisions next week
Updated at 1620 GMT
July 26 (Reuters) -British mid-cap stocks rallied to their strongest finish in more than two years on Friday, helped by a slew of upbeat company earnings reports and a rebound on Wall Street following benign U.S. inflation data.
The FTSE 250 index of domestically oriented UK stocks .FTMC closed up 2.3% at its highest level since March 2022, while the blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 1.2% to close at a two-month high.
The global mood improved as tech shares bounced back on Wall Street and a largely in-line U.S. inflation report kept intact bets for a September interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England's first interest rate cut since 2020 hangs in the balance next week after recent higher-than-expected British services prices data, with traders pricing in a 50% chance of a quarter-point rate cut on Aug. 1.
Among notable movers on the FTSE 100, NatWest shares NWG.L jumped 7% to a near decade high as it raised its outlook and snapped up a 2.4-billion pound ($3.1 billion) mortgage book from Metro Bank MTRO.L.
"The company is feeling confident to go on the offensive," said AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.
Boosting mid-cap stocks, Drax Group DRX.L surged nearly 14% after the power generator posted higher first-half profit and said it expected annual profit to be at the top-end of market expectations.
Babcock International BAB.L climbed 8.6% after the defence engineering company maintained its full-year forecast, while Jupiter Fund Management JUP.L rose 6.8% after the company reported forecast-beating profit.
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
