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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 climbed past the 8,000 point mark for the first time on Wednesday, as confident afternoon trade in London defied a slow start from equities in New York.
A weaker pound, in the wake of cooling UK inflation, bolstered the blue-chip index's international earners.
The FTSE 100 index closed 43.98 higher, 0.6%, at 7,997.83. The large-cap index rose to 8,003.65 points around 1530 GMT.
The FTSE 250 rose 154.36 points, or 0.8%, at 20,172.59. The AIM All-Share closed up 2.23 points, 0.3%, at 869.53.
The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 800.78, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.5% at 17,564.62, though the Cboe Small Companies lost 0.5% to 14,042.20.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris surged 1.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed up 0.8%.
Inflation in the UK slowed by slightly more than forecast in January, though remained in double digits, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.
On an annual basis, the consumer price index eased to 10.1% in January from 10.5% in December. Consensus had expected inflation to cool to 10.3%, according to FXStreet.
Core inflation - excluding energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco - cooled to 5.8% in January on an annual basis, from 6.3% in December.
Housebuilders were supported by the data, amid hope that the Bank of England's hiking cycle is close to its conclusion. Persimmon ended up 2.9% and Barratt Developments added 1.8%.
The retail sector also got a boost, on the tantalising prospect of a pick-up in consumer spending as inflation eases. Sports Direct owner Frasers climbed 2.6%, while Currys shares closed 3.2% higher.
The inflation data hit sterling and boosted the FTSE 100's international earners. Tobacco company BAT rose 1.2%, while InterContinental Hotels added 1.7%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2007 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday, lower compared to USD1.2174 at the close on Tuesday.
"The divergence in inflation figures, relative to expectations, on either side of the Atlantic did result in weakness for the pound. This in turn helped provide support to the FTSE 100 by boosting the relative value of its dominant overseas earnings," AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented.
The euro stood at USD1.0669 late Wednesday, lower against USD1.0731 at the London equities close on Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY134.32, higher compared to JPY132.77.
The dollar had struggled shortly after Tuesday's US inflation release, with the pound climbing close to USD1.23 and the euro trading above USD1.08. The greenback gathered poise late in Europe on Tuesday and during the New York trading session, however.
Also supporting the dollar was a rise in retail sales last month, according to an advance estimate from the US Census Bureau on Wednesday.
US retail and food service sales totalled USD697.0 billion when adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.
This was up 3.0% from December's revised figure of USD676.9 billion, and up 6.4% from January 2022.
Market consensus, according to FXStreet, had expected a monthly rise of just 1.8% in January.
US stocks were lower at the time of the closing bell in London. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4%, the S&P 500 was 0.3% lower and the Nasdaq Composite was flat.
On a day when the FTSE 100 hit a milestone, Barclays suffered. The stock closed down 7.9% on weaker annual profit, a tough outlook for its investment bank and a smaller-than-expected buyback.
The company's annual profit was hurt by "litigation and conduct" charges amounting to GBP1.60 billion. These amounted to just GBP397 million in 2021. Roughly a billion of 2022's hit stemmed from an over-issue of securities.
For 2022, the London-based bank posted pretax profit of GBP7.01 billion, down 14% from GBP8.19 billion the previous year. Pretax profit fell short of company-compiled consensus of GBP7.20 billion.
In the Corporate & Investment Bank, total income rose 8.4% to GBP13.37 billion in 2022 from GBP12.33 billion. Pretax profit, however, tumbled 23% to GBP4.31 billion from GBP5.63 billion.
AJ Bell's Mould added: "Deals are drying up with regards to mergers and acquisitions and stock market flotations, which means Barclays' investment banking arm saw profits tumble."
Finally, it declared a share buyback of up to GBP500 million, falling short of consensus of GBP675 million, according to Jefferies. Jefferies itself had expected to see a buyback of GBP1.0 billion declared.
Elsewhere in London, Brighton Pier lost 11%. The Brighton Palace Pier owner said trading has been in line with market expectations, but it cautioned on the impact of declining UK consumer confidence and rising costs.
Chief Executive Anne Ackord said: "Like many in our industry, we have had to absorb higher costs relating to wages, energy prices and other inputs. However, going into 2023, our businesses remain profitable, well managed and backed by a strong balance sheet and asset base."
Clontarf Energy jumped 47%. It announced an agreement for a potential joint venture with ion extraction technology developer NEXT-ChemX.
Lithium and oil & gas exploration and production firm Clontarf said the agreement would cover testing, marketing and deployment of NCX's patent pending direct lithium-ion extraction technology in Bolivia.
NCX's technology mimics biophysical processes to induce ions to cross a membrane barrier, and has proved effective in laboratory testing.
Clontarf said the technology limits energy and water consumption during lithium extraction, and creates minimal waste.
Brent oil was quoted at USD84.07 a barrel late Wednesday in London, down from USD85.67 late Tuesday. Gold was quoted at USD1,832.19 an ounce, sharply lower against USD1,852.49.
Thursday's economic calendar has a US producer price index reading, as well as the latest initial jobless claims number at 1330 GMT. There is consumer price index data from Ireland at 1100 GMT.
The local corporate calendar has annual results from British Gas owner Centrica, lender Standard Chartered and information and analytics firm Relx.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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