London stocks had extended gains by midday on Tuesday despite a Chinese official warning that foreign markets are in a bubble, as investors sifted through a raft of corporate news.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 6,630.67.
Market participants took things in their stride after Guo Shuqing, the head of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said he was “worried the bubble problem in foreign financial markets will one day go pop”.
Shuqing said markets in the US and Europe are trading at high levels, running “counter to the real economy”.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “This is hardly a new phenomenon, there’s been talk about bubbles in US markets for months, and China’s property market isn’t immune to these sorts of concerns either.”
In equity markets, insurer Admiral advanced ahead of its full-year results on Thursday, while engineer Renishaw surged after saying it was putting itself up for sale.
Taylor Wimpey gained after saying it will resume dividend payouts as sales and profits met expectations during an otherwise “unusual and volatile year”.
Rotork was on the front foot as its full-year adjusted operating profit beat analysts’ expectations.
Product testing and certification company Intertek pushed higher as it posted a drop in full-year profit and revenue but said its earnings performance was ahead of the group’s expectations following a strong recovery in the second half.
On the downside, oil giants BP and Shell both gushed lower as oil prices fell.
Flutter Entertainment reversed earlier gains to trade down after the gambling group reported a sharp fall in full-year profits but said it had started the new year with strong momentum and higher revenues.
Equipment rental firm Ashtead fell despite saying that full-year results are set to be ahead of its previous expectations after it outperformed the market in the nine months to the end of January 2021.
Engineer Weir lost ground after it reported a decline in full-year profit and revenue.
Doorstep lender Provident Financial was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘sell’ at Canaccord Genuity.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,630.67 0.64%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,232.02 0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 4,038.68 1.03%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,620.00p 4.38%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,224.00p 3.10%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 484.00p 2.98%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,537.00p 2.79%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,215.00p 2.53%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,812.50p 2.31%
Kingfisher (KGF) 272.80p 2.21%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,172.00p 2.19%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 170.10p 2.13%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 894.00p 2.05%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 13,985.00p -2.58%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,398.00p -1.88%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 821.60p -1.86%
BP (BP.) 293.05p -1.51%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 689.80p -1.17%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 3,974.00p -1.10%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,451.80p -1.01%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 203.70p -0.78%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,394.60p -0.68%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 110.70p -0.63%
FTSE 250 – Risers
Renishaw (RSW) 6,860.00p 18.28%
Hammerson (HMSO) 28.97p 5.54%
Rotork (ROR) 373.80p 4.53%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 639.50p 3.23%
AO World (AO.) 289.00p 3.21%
Royal Mail (RMG) 466.80p 2.93%
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 244.15p 2.80%
Capita (CPI) 48.91p 2.73%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 351.00p 2.63%
Rank Group (RNK) 174.80p 2.58%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Provident Financial (PFG) 271.80p -5.10%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,931.50p -3.71%
FirstGroup (FGP) 85.95p -2.94%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,435.00p -2.91%
Trainline (TRN) 512.50p -2.84%
Energean (ENOG) 885.70p -2.77%
Workspace Group (WKP) 778.50p -2.69%
SSP Group (SSPG) 352.00p -2.38%
Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 704.00p -2.36%
Carnival (CCL) 1,616.50p -2.24%
