LONDON (Alliance News) - London's stock indices are mostly higher, with the FTSE 100 recouping losses from Wednesday, buoyed by strong overnight data from China as well as some strong UK corporate releases.
By mid-morning Thursday the FTSE 100 is up 0.3% at 6,692.50 and the FTSE 250 is up 0.2% at 15,527.20. Only the AIM is down, with the AIM All-Share marginally lower at 799.42.
Stocks opened higher after data showed China's manufacturing growth hit a seven-month high in October, adding to evidence that its growth is regaining strength after the slowdown witnessed in the first half of the year. China's PMI rose by more than expected to 50.9 in October from 50.2 in September.
Germany's manufacturing PMI came in at 51.5 for October, up from 51.1 in September and in line with expectations, while the services PMI missed expectations, coming in at 52.3 for October, down from 53.7 in September. The expectation has been for an increase to 53.9.
The euro has a muted negative reaction the numbers from Germany and other euro-zone countries and now trades close to flat on the day against the dollar at USD1.3785. The pound is also little moved against the greenback, currently trading at USD1.6170.
A busy day in the UK corporate calendar sees the Aerospace & Defense sector up more than 1%, led higher by Rolls-Royce, up more than 2%. Following positive results from US airplane maker Boeing on Wednesday, there is a positive read across to UK engineering stocks Thursday, says Liberum Capital analyst Ben Bourne. Having just returned from an investor/analyst day at fellow manufacturer and engineer Senior PLC, Bourne says the "outlook remains rosy" for the whole sector.
On the other side of the coin, recent FTSE 100 entrant Sports Direct is the biggest blue chip loser, down 4.6% after Chief Executive Mike Ashley sold GBP106 million worth of shares. A regulatory filing from the company Thursday showed Ashley had sold 16 million shares at 662.5 pence each through his MASH Holdings Ltd investment company, a 2.7% stake in the company. He is still left with a 61.7% stake in the business after the sale, although has pledged not to sell any more shares for 180 days as a condition of the sale.
AIM giant ASOS is down close to 2% after a handful of senior managers sold GBP94.1 million worth of shares in the wake of the company's strong results Wednesday. Chief Executive Nick Robertson will use some of his return from the placing to award staff a GBP2.8 million special bonus, a spokesman said.
Next to look out for in the data calendar is the result of the latest Confederation of British Industry industrial trends survey, out at 1100 BST, with the expectation of a reading of 10, up from 9 last month.
In the afternoon, the US Markit manufacturing PMI is due at 1358 BST with new home sales data to follow.
By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100
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