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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were higher at midday on Wednesday, as investors eagerly awaited a panel featuring the chiefs of the four largest central banks, hoping for hints on the future direction of monetary policy.
The FTSE 100 index was up 51.48 points, or 0.7%, at 7,512.94. The FTSE 250 was up 266.90 points, or 1.5%, at 18,321.74, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.01 points, or 0.1%, at 756.62.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 749.71, the Cboe UK 250 was up 1.2% at 16,010.00, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.7% at 13,093.85.
Central bankers on Wednesday take part in the annual ECB Forum in Sintra, Portugal. The form brings together central bank governors, academics, financial market representatives, journalists and others to exchange views on current policy issues.
The theme of the 2023 form is "macroeconomic stabilisation in a volatile inflation environment".
The highlight of the day will be the panel at 1430 BST featuring US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.
Markets are hoping the central bankers will provide insight in to the future path of interest rates and their views on how long sticky inflation will linger.
In London, Sage remained the top blue-chip performer at midday, up 4.8% on the back of an upgrade from JPMorgan.
The US bank lifted the accounting software maker to 'overweight' from 'neutral' and placed it on its 'analyst focus list'.
BT was up 1.7% at midday.
Ofcom launched an investigation into the telecommunications firm after disruption to UK emergency call services.
The UK regulator for the broadcast and telecommunications industries said it would investigate in the incident to establish the facts of what happened. The investigation will also "examine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that BT has failed to comply with its regulatory obligations".
On Sunday, emergency services across the UK were impacted by system failures from around 8.30 am, which prevented 999 calls from connecting. Minor issues continued after BT changed to a "back up system" an hour and a half later, with some reports of delays to calls being received.
Ofcom said: "Our rules require BT and other providers to take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations as part of any call services offered."
BT, which manages the 999 phone system, had said it was "sincerely sorry" for the incident.
In the FTSE 250, Diversified Energy added 1.3% after it boosted its liquidity with the divestiture of around USD40 million worth of non-operated assets.
The Alabama, US-based oil and gas production company said the assets include around 200 net, non-operated wells which produce around 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The USD40 million gross consideration is around four times the cash flow multiple over the next twelve months, and includes around 85,000 associated net acres in Oklahoma and Texas.
Elsewhere in London, ProCook plunged 14% after the kitchenware retailer swung to an annual loss and reported lower revenue in the first quarter of its new financial year.
ProCook reported a pretax loss of GBP6.5 million in the year ended April 2, swung from a profit of GBP94,000 the year before.
It said revenue in the first quarter of financial 2024 amounted to GBP10.7 million, down 6.7% year-on-year, impacted by warm weather and the soft homewares market during May and June.
On AIM, Revolution Beauty surged 47% at midday, having been restored to trading at the open.
boohoo flagged "serious concerns" regarding the conduct of the board of the beauty product retailer, in which it holds just under a 27% stake.
boohoo called the Revolution board "self-serving" and said it was not acting in the best interest of shareholders. It pointed to the attempts of the company's board to adjourn a quorate meeting with the approval of shareholders present, the annual general meeting proceeding with defeated resolutions, and the conduct of independent director Jeremy Schwartz as evidence of this.
boohoo called on the Revolution board to convene a requisitioned general meeting, proposing to remove three directors and appoint another two.
Revolution Beauty responded: "The board of Revolution Beauty remains focussed on value creation at this critical time for the company, and continues to believe that boohoo's hostile actions are value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving, as well as not being in the interests of the company's shareholders as a whole."
Shares in boohoo were 0.3% higher.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, commented: "For the sake of other shareholders, both parties could do with putting the war of words behind them and working together constructively, whatever concessions this might require on both sides."
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt were both up 0.9%.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday criticised the ECB's hiking of interest rates to fight inflation, warning "the cure risks proving more damaging than the disease".
Meloni was reacting to ECB President Christine Lagarde's warning Tuesday that the bank would "continue to increase rates in July" unless there was "a material change to the outlook".
Stocks in New York were called largely lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 index was called down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was seen 0.4% lower.
The dollar was little moved around midday on Wednesday, making only minor gains.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2710 midday on Wednesday in London, down from USD1.2748 at the close on Tuesday. The euro stood at USD1.0959, unchanged against USD1.0959 on Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY144.06, a touch higher compared to JPY144.01.
Brent oil was quoted at USD72.71 a barrel at midday in London on Wednesday, down from USD73.55 late Tuesday. Gold was quoted at USD1,907.77 an ounce, lower against USD1,914.73.
Still to come on Wednesday's economic calendar, the US Federal Reserve releases its annual stress test results shortly after the New York equities close.
By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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