British mid-cap stocks close at over two-year high on earnings optimism
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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
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