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(Alliance News) - BP led the FTSE 100 index higher on Tuesday, helping stocks in London to shake off worries about the possibility of a regulatory crackdown on the online gaming industry in China.
"Talk that gaming will be the next sector to come under pressure from the authorities in China saw Tencent's shares fall more than 10% at one point on Tuesday. They are now down by more than a fifth year to date as investors reassess their willingness to have exposure to big Chinese names," commented Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The FTSE 100 index was up 28.48 points, or 0.4%, at 7,110.20 midday Tuesday.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 97.08 points, or 0.4%, at 23,305.75 - having hit a fresh high of 23,314.99 earlier in Tuesday's session.
The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1% at 1,256.38.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 707.99. The Cboe 250 was up 0.5% at 21,055.04 and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 15,241.34.
Bolstering London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index was BP, rallying 5.1% as the oil major raised its second-quarter dividend and joined peer Royal Dutch Shell in setting plans for a big share buyback.
For the second quarter of 2021, BP swung to a replacement cost profit attributable to shareholders of USD2.38 billion from a USD17.66 billion loss a year earlier. It declared a dividend of 5.46 cents for the quarter, up 4.0% from 5.25 cents a year ago, and unveiled a USD1.4 billion share buyback.
Chief Executive Bernard Looney said: "On average at around USD60 per barrel, we expect to be able to deliver buybacks of around USD1.0 billion per quarter and to have capacity for an annual increase in the dividend per ordinary share of around 4%, through 2025."
Brent oil was trading at USD73.31 a barrel on Tuesday in London, down from USD73.58 late Monday. After recovering from pandemic-induced lows, Brent has consistently traded above USD60 per barrel since early February. Brent prices have risen 51% since 2021 began.
Standard Chartered also advanced, up 3.3% as it recorded a sharp jump in interim profit. In the six months to June 30, the London-headquartered but Asia-focused lender recorded pretax profit of USD2.56 billion, up sharply from USD1.63 billion a year before.
Contributing to the profit boost was a sharp drop in the bank's credit provision, which turned into a USD51 million release in the first half compared to the USD1.58 billion provision booked last year.
This was all helping to offset a 9.0% slump for Smiths Group after the company agreed to sell its Smiths Medical unit to US private equity firm TA Associates.
The deal, announced on Monday after the London market close, values Smiths Medical at an enterprise value of USD2.3 billion, equivalent to GBP1.7 billion, plus an additional USD200,000 contingent on future performance of Smiths Medical.
Hiscox was amongst the top performers in the FTSE 250, up 5.8%, as it posted a return to first half profit and tipped this year's Covid-19 insurance claims to be lower than expected. Hiscox swung to a pretax profit of USD133.4 million from a USD138.9 million loss a year prior.
The Hamilton, Bermuda-based firm declared an 11.5 cents per share dividend, its first payout since the onset of the pandemic.
Fellow insurer Direct Line rose 5.3%. The mid-cap firm said half-year pretax profit climbed 11% from the same period last year, amid claims frequency, new car sales and new drivers entering the market remaining "below normal level".
Rotork fell 6.5% on the departure of its chief executive. CEO Kevin Hostetler informed the board of his decision to return to the US with his young family next year, Rotork said. He is committed to a handover period, which is expected to finish by the end of June 2022. Rotork has started the search for a replacement and will consider internal and external candidates.
The announcement came as Rotork reported first-half results for 2021. Revenue grew 1.8% year-on-year to GBP288.3 million from GBP283.2 million, while pretax profit rose 8.4% to GBP54.1 million from GBP50.0 million.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris surged 1.0%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt edged up 0.2%.
Boosting the CAC was Societe Generale, shares up 6.5% on an "excellent" second quarter as the French lender was able to enjoy a significantly lower cost of risk in the period.
Also lifting the flagship French index was automaker Stellantis, which rose 4.2% as it posted a surge in interim profit against a difficult supply backdrop, with a global shortage of semiconductors forcing the company to cut production by 700,000 vehicles.
Results from Frankfurt-listed auto peer BMW were less well received, the stock sliding 4.3% and weighing on the DAX 30 as it warned the second half of the year would "likely" be hurt by semiconductor shortages. The Bavarian company has so far been able to make up for a global lack of supply in this essential component, but will now start to feel the effects.
In New York, stocks are called for a higher open. The Dow Jones is pointed up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3922 midday Tuesday, edging up from USD1.3900 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro was firm at USD1.1888 versus USD1.1880 late Monday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar slipped to JPY109.17 from JPY109.30.
The US dollar was on shaky footing heading into the latest monthly jobs report.
"We are in the runup to the release on Friday of July's non-farm payrolls, which could, if figures fall significantly below the 900k consensus, vindicate the view of those Federal Reserve officials who believe it is too early to start tightening policies due to weaknesses in the labour market," said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.
Gold was quoted at USD1,811.20 an ounce on Tuesday, lower than USD1,814.25 on Monday.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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