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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London closed in the green on Wednesday as investors look eagerly to the Federal Open Market Committee minutes out later this evening.
The minutes will be closely watched for the latest thinking of Fed officials, with hopes for a firmer guide on the range rates will rise to in the central bank's next meeting in December.
"Despite the prospect of the Federal Reserve's latest minutes reminding markets that it has no intention of taking its foot off the acceleration pedal for interest rate hikes, investors in the US, Asia and Europe seem remarkably upbeat ahead of the central bank's announcement," said Russ Mould at AJ Bell.
The minutes will be released at 1900 GMT.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 12.40 points, or 0.2% at 7,465.24 on Wednesday. The FTSE 250 ended up 78.13 points, or 0.4%, at 19,500.50. The AIM All-Share closed up 2.36 points, or 0.3%, at 840.30.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.3% at 747.49, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.5% at 16,852.58, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.3% at 13,133.99.
In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up just 5.24 points.
Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.9%.
Jitters ahead of the release of the Fed minutes caused the dollar to slip back, however. It's the last big risk event before a quieter rest of the week as the US enters the Thanksgiving holiday break.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2062 at the London equities close Wednesday, up sharply from USD1.1871 at the close on Tuesday.
The euro stood at USD1.0362 at the European equities close on Wednesday, higher against USD1.0275 at the same time on Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY139.64 late Wednesday, down compared to JPY141.35 late Tuesday.
"We continue to expect a rather radical inversion in the bearish dollar trend in December as the Fed remains broadly hawkish, energy prices rise again and the global economy slows," said Francesco Pesole at ING.
In the FTSE 100, United Utilities closed 0.7% lower despite reporting strong profit growth in the six months to September 30, on the back of a swing to a net finance income.
The Warrington, England-based water works company posted a pretax profit of GBP426.3 million, compared to GBP212.7 million a year before. However, this mostly reflected a GBP255 million decrease in reported net finance expense, including fair value movements.
Revenue, meanwhile, edged down 1.4% to GBP919.3 million from GBP932.3 million. Looking forward, United Utilities expects annual revenue to be around 1% lower than a year before.
In the FTSE 250, Rotork finished up 3.6% as it delivered strong revenue recovery and reinforced full-year guidance.
For the four months to October 30, the industrial flow control equipment manufacturer said revenue grew 19% year-on-year on an organic constant currency basis.
It attributed this increase to higher selling prices, as well as the supply chain improvement measures implemented over the last 18 months.
Looking ahead, Rotork expects annual adjusted operating profit to be in line with expectations. It also anticipates entering 2023 with a record order book, "significantly higher" than where it started at the beginning of this year.
Pets at Home closed down 4.8% as it reported that higher freight and energy costs took a toll on profit in its recent half-year.
Pretax profit was GBP53.4 million in the six months ended October 13, down 19% from GBP65.7 million a year before, despite revenue climbing by 7.3% to GBP727.2 million from GBP677.6 million.
This came as the pet supplies retailer took GBP4.0 million and GBP4.9 million hits from higher freight and energy costs, respectively.
abrdn finished 2.9% higher. A short time after being booted out of London's flagship stock market benchmark, abrdn may return, according to indicative index changes provided by FTSE Russell.
The indicative changes are based on market capitalisation on Friday. The results of the upcoming index review will be released next week Wednesday, using data as at market close on the day before.
abrdn dropped out of the FTSE 100 in September, following results from a quarterly index review announced on August 31.
Since the results of that review were announced, the stock has risen 35%.
Elsewhere in London, De La Rue plunged 23% as it swung to a pretax loss in a "challenging" half year, largely due to a decline in currency revenue.
The Hampshire-based banknote printing company said its pretax loss in the six months ended September 24 was GBP15.9 million, swinging from a profit of GBP10.9 million a year prior.
Revenue fell by 8.3% to GBP164.3 million from GBP179.2 million, led by a 12% currency revenue decline to GBP116.4 million from GBP132.7 million due to a subdued market, said De La Rue.
Halfords dropped 6.5% at the close.
The Worcestershire-based motor and cycling products retailer said pretax profit fell 54% to GBP29.3 million in the six months to September 30, from GBP64.3 million a year prior, as a result of increasing costs more than offsetting revenue growth.
Brent oil was quoted at USD84.66 a barrel at the London equities close on Wednesday, down from USD88.86 late Tuesday.
Gold was quoted at USD1,743.02 an ounce at the London equities close on Wednesday, higher against USD1,741.10 at the close on Tuesday.
In Thursday's UK corporate calendar, there's half-year results from shoe seller Dr Martens and low-cost airline Jet2.
In the economic calendar, US markets will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Overnight, there will be a flash manufacturing PMI from Japan.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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