London open: FTSE rises ahead of inflation reading

London investors began in more optimistic mood than was expected on Tuesday, boosted by bullish comments from the European Central Bank.The FTSE 100, which had been expected to move lower on worries of a US rate hike, spiked through the 7,000 mark for the third day running, standing at 7,001, up 0.46% or 32 points at 09:02.Helping lift the mood were new records highs in the US and Asian advances overnight, as well as a Monday night speech in London by European Central Bank (ECB) board member Benoit Coeure, who said the ECB would front-load its asset purchase scheme over May and June due to lower normal market liquidity in July and August.While reassuring that short-term interest rates going below zero were not a problem for monetary policy and that the recent European government bond market sell-off was a normal correction he did admit that "the rapidity of the reversal" worried him more as it was "yet another incident of extreme volatility in global capital markets showing signs of reduced liquidity".Markets had been expected to be lower due to concerns about earlier interest rate hikes across the Atlantic, with the San Francisco Fed releasing a paper that stating first quarter growth has been understated and may be due for a significant upward revision in the second, putting a June rise back on the cards.At 09:30 the UK consumer price index will become centre of attention, with the annual rate of inflation is expected to show a flat reading of 0% for April.This would be well below the Bank of England's (BoE) target of 2% and the lowest rate of inflation since estimates of the measure began in 1988.BoE Governor Mark Carney last week in his Quarterly Inflation Report said deflation could emerge during the year, amid lower energy and food prices, but that inflation was projected to pick up towards the end of the year as the benefits of cheaper fuel boost consumer spending power."A temporary period of falling prices should not be mistaken for widespread and persistent deflation," he said.A host of data is due out elsewhere, including German economic sentiment figures from ZEW and the Eurozone CPI at 10:00 London time, and US building permits and US housing starts at 13:30.London's gauge of blue chip was higher despite Vodafone, a heavy weighing in the index, which was down despite reporting a return to growth in the fourth quarter. Final results showed organic service revenue up 0.1%, beating consensus forecasts for the final three months of the year. The telecoms giant said it expected the 2016 financial year to see earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £11.5bn-£12bn, versus the consensus estimate of £11.9bn.Property developer Land Securities was a big riser after it has raised its dividend by 3.7% to 31.85p following a surge in demand for commercial property which has boosted its adjusted net asset value 27.6% to 1,293p.Top of the 350 leaderboard was Big Yellow, as the self storage company reported rising annual profits thanks to higher occupancy and prices.Icap was also higher despite a 21% full year decline in profit and a warning that it expected headwinds to continue. But management said they had "materially re-engineered" the business, with a significant reshaping of the global broking division.DCC was another riser after the FTSE 250 company made a €464m bid for one of Shell's Butagaz liquefied petroleum gas business.Going the other way was Aveva as its adjusted pre-tax profits sank 21% to £62.1m as margins shrank to 29.8% from 33% a year ago. Shares in the company have been inflated recently due to intense bid speculation. Market MoverstechMARK 3,257.05 +0.19%FTSE 100 7,002.22 +0.48%FTSE 250 18,118.12 +0.53%FTSE 100 - RisersLand Securities Group (LAND) 1,349.00p +2.90%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,460.00p +2.89%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,515.00p +2.60%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,816.00p +2.25%Kingfisher (KGF) 362.50p +2.11%GKN (GKN) 364.80p +2.07%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,486.00p +2.06%Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,123.00p +2.00%Persimmon (PSN) 1,908.00p +1.81%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,131.00p +1.80%FTSE 100 - FallersBHP Billiton (BLT) 1,424.50p -2.63%Vodafone Group (VOD) 228.95p -2.20%Glencore (GLEN) 291.65p -1.80%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,886.00p -1.33%Anglo American (AAL) 1,064.50p -1.16%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,855.00p -1.08%Fresnillo (FRES) 784.50p -1.01%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 614.10p -0.73%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,930.00p -0.31%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,050.50p -0.19%FTSE 250 - RisersDCC (DCC) 4,818.00p +9.75%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 686.00p +4.65%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 565.50p +2.82%Alent (ALNT) 365.30p +2.61%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 167.10p +2.39%AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 908.50p +2.31%Allied Minds (ALM) 650.00p +2.12%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,220.00p +2.09%Greencore Group (GNC) 355.50p +1.98%Booker Group (BOK) 152.70p +1.94%FTSE 250 - FallersMoneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 286.60p -5.26%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,925.00p -3.75%BTG (BTG) 759.00p -3.07%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 257.60p -2.87%Drax Group (DRX) 405.70p -2.62%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 171.50p -2.61%Hunting (HTG) 591.00p -2.56%Premier Oil (PMO) 167.10p -2.28%Interserve (IRV) 609.00p -2.17%Serco Group (SRP) 134.00p -1.90%FTSE TechMARK - RisersBATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 14.50p +1.75%Skyepharma (SKP) 293.75p +1.29%Filtronic (FTC) 12.50p +1.01%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,075.00p +0.94%Sepura (SEPU) 149.75p +0.84%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 201.71 +0.83%Anite (AIE) 92.75p +0.82%KCOM Group (KCOM) 96.75p +0.78%Ricardo (RCDO) 880.00p +0.57%SDL (SDL) 444.50p +0.45%FTSE TechMARK - FallersOxford Biomedica (OXB) 10.25p -6.82%Dialight (DIA) 740.50p -1.79%Innovation Group (TIG) 28.00p -1.75%Vectura Group (VEC) 162.25p -0.76%NCC Group (NCC) 218.00p -0.46%