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* Vodafone among top FTSE 100 gainers
* Recruiter SThree gains after annual profit doubles
* Online estate agency Purplebricks forecasts growth in 2023
* FTSE 100 flat, FTSE 250 adds 1.3%
(Updates to close)
By Shashank Nayar
Jan 31 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 erased early gains to
end flat on Monday as weakness in healthcare and
commodity-linked shares countered advances in financials, while
the index recorded its second consecutive monthly increase.
After rising as much as 0.8%, the blue-chip FTSE 100 index
ended flat, with Rio Tinto, Anglo American
, Glencore and AstraZeneca among top
drags.
The FTSE 100 ended the month 1.1% higher, significantly
outperforming the wider European stock aggregate, which
recorded its worst month since October 2020.
Investors now await a key monetary policy decision from the
Bank of England due later this week where expectations are for a
50-basis-point rate hike, its second hike in a row, as it looks
to tame rising inflation pressure.
"There are some concerns about the hit to disposable income
from the surge in inflation coming in the spring, but this might
just redouble the committee's (MPC) resolve to bring it back
under control," according to Brian Hillard, chief UK economist
at Societe General.
Leading gains were the insurance and
industrial stocks, up 0.6% and 1.3% respectively.
Vodafone Group PLC was among the top FTSE 100
gainers, up 1.9%, after saying it would work with Intel Corp
and other silicon vendors on designing its own chip
architecture to drive innovation and efficiency in nascent
OpenRAN network technology.
The FTSE 100 has been helped by a robust performance in
higher weighted banking and energy shares on expectations of
rising interest rates and soaring oil prices, respectively, and
a lower representation of technology stocks that do not perform
well in a high-interest scenario.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 1.3%
with travel and leisure stocks gaining the most.
Among stocks, British recruiting firm SThree
jumped 12.6% after its annual profit nearly doubled.
Britain's biggest online-only estate agency, Purplebricks
Group rose 1.3% following its forecast of a return to
growth in 2023, after it posted a half-year loss hurt by charges
related to "process issues".-0.5
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar and Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing
by Shailesh Kuber, William Maclean)
