LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 Rallies As Commodity Stocks Drives Gains

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Wednesday with heavyweight commodity stocks and a weaker pound edging the FTSE 100 towards the 7,000 mark. The FTSE 100 index closed up 107.70 points, or 1.6%, at 6,941.63. The FTSE 250 ended up 125.36 points, or 0.7%, at 18,827.97, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.14 points, or 0.4%, at 912.05.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.5% at 11,780.45, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.6% at 16,795.23, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.6% at 11,275.45.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 1.0%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.3%. "The FTSE 100 finished the day firmly in positive territory. The British market is showing gains across all the major sectors, financials, consumer goods, mining and energy. The rally in iron ore and oil has helped the market outperform its continental rivals as it has a relatively high exposure to commodity stocks. The FTSE 250 is pushing higher too, and sentiment is strong even though there is a serious lack of clarity in relation to Brexit," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.On the London Stock Exchange, miners ended in the green, with Antofagasta, up 1.4%, Glencore, up 2.8%, Rio Tinto, up 1.4%, BHP, up 2.6% as iron prices reached a 16-month high."Iron ore prices are on the rise following a second deadly collapse at a Brazilian tailings dam. Brazil's iron ore mining operations are hugely significant to global supply, with the country accounting for 20% of global output," said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.Heavyweight oil majors ended in the green, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares up 1.7%, tracking spot oil prices higher. Brent oil was quoted at USD62.55 a barrel at the London equities close from USD61.36 at the close Tuesday. The North Sea benchmark hit an intraday high of USD62.64 in afternoon trade - its highest level in two months amid continued political uncertainty in major oil producing nation Venezuela. The US imposed sanctions against state-owned oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, in an effort to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to cede power to rival Juan Guaido. At the other end of the large cap index, Hargreaves Lansdown ended as the worst performer, down 4.0% after the fund supermarket reported its first fall in assets under administration in seven years amid difficult market conditions on Tuesday. The stock closed down 4.7% on Tuesday and is on a seven-day losing streak. The pound was down, quoted at USD1.3070 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3152 at the close Tuesday. On the political front, Prime Minister Theresa May faced a backlash from Brussels after promising to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement.May succeeded in uniting her party behind a plan to rewrite the deal to address concerns about the Irish backstop.But senior figures in Brussels, Berlin, Paris and Dublin resisted the demand from May as the clock ticks down to the UK's departure from the EU on March 29."We still think that, in the final analysis, some fudge will be found as the EU27 makes some concessions and the DUP and Hard Brexiteers in the Conservative Party start to see sense but we are still a long way from that point. We expect the UK before long to request an extension to Article 50 and the EU27 to agree to it," said Societe Generale analyst Brian Hillard. The prime minister also clashed with Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons ahead of private talks with the Labour leader on the Brexit process.Having boycotted earlier cross-party talks, the Labour leader said he was ready to discuss a "sensible" approach to Brexit after MPs voted on Tuesday night to rule out no deal.Late Tuesday, MPs voted by a margin of 317 to 301 to back a plan - dubbed the "Brady amendment" - which requires the PM to replace the controversial backstop plan with "alternative arrangements" to keep the Irish border open after the UK departs from the bloc."Sterling seems unperturbed by the apparently impossible task facing Theresa May. The PM might have some kind of backing from her party to go back into the lions' den, but it is far from clear whether they have given her any effective weaponry with which to win more compromises from the EU. The relief surrounding the gradual disappearance of 'no deal' can only last so long, and markets will want to see progress on a different deal sooner or later," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.The euro was marginally lower, quoted at USD1.1416 at the European equities close, against USD1.1435 late Tuesday. In economic news from the continent, Germany's consumer price inflation slowed more-than-expected to its lowest level in nearly a year in January, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.The consumer price index rose 1.4% year-on-year following a 1.7% increase in December. Economists had forecast an inflation rate of 1.6%.On a month-on-month basis, CPI fell 0.8% in January, in line with economists' expectations. Prices edged up 0.1% in November.The harmonized index of consumer prices, which is meant for EU comparison, rose 1.7% year-on-year in January, the same pace as in December. Compared to the previous month, the HICP decreased 1% in January.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close amid positive earnings releases from a host of renowned companies. The DJIA was up 1.4%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.0%.Shares in Apple were up 4.9% in New York after the iPhone maker reported first quarter results that beat analyst estimates, including substantial growth in its services business late Tuesday.In addition, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook expressed optimism about US-China trade talks, adding to the positive sentiment on Wall Street. Boeing shares were up 7.0% after the aerospace giant reported better than expected fourth quarter results and provided upbeat guidance for financial 2019.Still to come in the US earnings calendar, software giant Microsoft and social media platform Facebook will report after the market close in New York. On the US economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing the pace of private sector job growth slowed in January but still far exceeded analyst estimates.ADP said private sector employment jumped by 213,000 jobs in January after soaring by a downwardly revised 263,000 jobs in December.Economists had expected employment to increase by about 178,000 jobs compared to the spike of 271,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.Gold was quoted at USD1,311.88 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,310.47 late Tuesday, ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision at 1900 GMT. The central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged. The precious metal was trading at around its highest levels in eight months. "A hawkish Fed tone can move the dollar index higher and thus push the gold price higher. However, it is important to keep in mind that the correlation between the price of gold and the dollar index isn't that strong these days. Thus, a hawkish stance could support the gold price because investors would park their money in safe havens," said ThinkMarkets analyst Naeem Aslam. The economic events calendar on Thursday has Germany unemployment figures at 0855 GMT and Italy and eurozone GDP readings at 0900 GMT and 1000 GMT respectively. The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has full year results from oil major Royal Dutch Shell and consumer goods maker Unilever. There are also half year results from distiller Diageo and third quarter results from private equity investor 3i Group and telecommunications firm BT Group.