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(Alliance News) - London stock prices enjoyed broad-based gains Tuesday at midday despite a stronger pound, with just a handful of laggards in the index, as polls in the US open to draw a bitter presidential campaign to a close.
In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 92.90 points, or 1.6% at 5,747.87. The FTSE 250 surged 231.09 points, or 1.4%, at 17,412.28. The AIM All-Share was up 9.48 points, 1.0%, at 956.46.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 1.7% at 571.63. The Cboe 250 was up 1.6% at 14,668.79. The Cboe Small Companies was up 0.6% at 9,494.19.
The CAC 40 stock index in Paris gained 1.9% by midday Tuesday, and Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 1.6%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2996, up from USD1.2894 at the London equities close on Monday.
Against the dollar, the euro rose to USD1.1716 Tuesday from USD1.1630 at the European equities close on Monday.
"It's a firm risk-on mood for investors as equities rise across Europe and Asia," noted AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.
Mould noted that "miners, oil producers, financials and consumer cyclicals", were among those leading the FTSE 100's gains.
"HSBC, Rio Tinto and BP were the biggest contributors in terms of index points," commented Mould.
Lender HSBC and miner Rio Tinto rose 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively.
BP rose 2.9% as London-listed oil majors received a pair of upgrades on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised BP to Equal Weight from Underweight and Royal Dutch Shell to Overweight from Equal Weight.
The duo were boosted as well by rising Brent oil prices, the North Sea benchmark fetched USD40.08 a barrel, up from USD37.94 late Monday.
Shell 'A' shares were up 2.1% and 'B' shares rose 2.6%.
UK housebuilders also were on the rise. Taylor Wimpey was up 3.9%, while Barratt Developments rose 3.1% and Persimmon climbed 2.9%.
The sector benefited from a positive read-across from mid-cap peer Crest Nicholson, which itself jumped 17%, the best performer in the FTSE 250.
Crest Nicholson said adjusted pretax profit for the year ended October 31 will be "significantly ahead" of consensus of GBP37.9 million.
The firm guided for this to come in at the upper end of its previous GBP35 million to GBP45 million forecast range as the trading environment has been "positive" since the UK housing sector re-emerged from the Spring virus shutdown. Forward sales as of October 31 totalled 2,289 units with gross development value of GBP480.5 million.
Among the large-caps, Associated British Foods fell 1.1%.
AB Foods posted an annual earnings fall and decided not to pay a final dividend, after previously also having opted against an interim payout.
AB Foods said group revenue fell 12% in the year ended September 12 to GBP13.94 billion from USD15.82 billion. Revenue was below market consensus of GBP14.40 billion. Pretax profit plunged 42% to GBP686 million from GBP1.17 billion during a year hit by Covid-19 lockdowns.
Primark revenue alone was 24% lower at GBP5.90 billion, AB Foods noted, adding that UK like-for-like sales are 12% lower since reopening from the Spring Covid-19 lockdown.
Also among the fallers in the FTSE 100, were Ocado Group, Just Eat Takeaway and Tesco, giving back 1.7%, 1.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Ocado had advanced 8.7% on Monday after raising annual guidance. Tesco and Just Eat Takeaway had risen 2.7% each on Monday on the expectation of boosted demand due to the latest Covid-19 lockdown in England.
In the FTSE 250 on midday Tuesday, thread manufacturer Coats Group rose 12%. It said adjusted operating profit for 2020 will top market expectations and will be in the range of USD100 million and USD110 million.
Between July 1 and October 31, sales fell 9% year-on-year at constant currency, narrowing from a first half slump of 21%. Reported sales were down 11% after a 24% plunge in the first half.
"Improving demand" has been seen in the Apparel & Footwear and Performance Materials segments, Coats noted.
G4S rose 4.5% to 213.80 pence, after the US's Allied Universal fired what could be a starting shot in a bidding war for UK security giant. Allied failed to convince the G4S board, however.
The directors of G4S on Tuesday rejected a GBP3.25 billion bid, saying it "significantly undervalues" the business.
The "at least" 210p per share bid gives Allied Universal the edge over its Canadian rival suitor GardaWorld, whose 190p bid has previously been rejected by G4S.
Versus the Japanese yen, the dollar dropped to JPY104.75 from JPY104.84.
The final rally in US President Donald Trump's gruelling re-election battle came to an end early Tuesday morning with Trump promising he would once again defy the polls. His final appearance after 17 public appearances saw Trump take the stage in the Michigan city of Grand Rapids.
Despite an often startlingly laid-back campaign, Joe Biden leads in almost every opinion poll, buoyed by his consistent message that America needs to restore its "soul" and get new leadership in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people.
IG Chief Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp said "markets have decided to remain calm about the US presidential election".
"The risk is that investors are getting ahead of themselves, given the potential for a long, drawn-out battle over the result of the US election in coming weeks should no obvious result appear by this time tomorrow morning. In that case risk assets could well struggle to make much headway, even if they do manage to avoid further substantial losses similar to what we saw last week," Beauchamp explained.
"The focus on the election obscures the really important element, namely a US fiscal stimulus, since whoever emerges as the winner will need to sort out this most pressing item, before the US economy moves into an even deeper slump."
US futures were higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 1.5%, the S&P 500 up 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.2%.
Gold was quoted at USD1.899.67 midday Tuesday in London, up from USD1,891.20 late Monday.
The data calendar has US factory orders at 1500 GMT. Results from the US polls won't start coming until well after midnight London time.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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