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* AstraZeneca tops FTSE 100 on earnings beat
* Smurfit Kappa rises on Q1 result
* Barclays slumps , cautious outlook weighs
* FTSE 100 up 0.1%, rises 3.8% in April
(Releads, adds closing prices, comments)
By Devik Jain and Julien Ponthus
April 30 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 index outshone its
European rivals on Friday, boosted by earnings updates from
AstraZeneca and Smurfit Kappa which help offset a slump in
Barclays shares due to a cautious outlook despite profits
beating expectations.
London's blue chip index ended the session up 0.1%
to secure a monthly gain of about 3.8%, the most since November,
and bring a year-to-date rise to almost 8%.
The last day of trading in April saw U.S. and European
benchmarks edge lower after reaching record highs this week on
the back of an upbeat first-quarter earnings season.
The pan-European STOXX 600 ticked down 0.3% while on Wall
Street the S&P 500 fell 0.6% in afternoon trading.
The star performer in London was heavyweight AstraZeneca
as better-than-expected results and a second half growth
forecast lifted its shares 4.3% and buoyed the broader UK
market.
The drugmaker said its COVID-19 vaccine sales were $275
million in the first-quarter and that it was on track to deliver
200 million doses a month from April.
"Despite the intense operational and political challenges
created by AZN’s COVID-19 vaccine roll out, the core business
continues to perform above market expectations in a most
challenging quarter, demonstrating strength across therapeutic
areas and geographies," Citigroup analysts said in a note.
Another big winner on Friday was Smurfit Kappa.
Europe's largest paper packaging producer jumped 4.2% after it
posted a 6% increase in first-quarter revenue on strong
packaging demand.
The index was further supported by tobacco makers British
American Tobacco and Imperial Brands which rose
more than 2% each after peer Swedish Match reported
upbeat quarterly profit.
Barclays posted by far the worst performance of the
session, losing 7% despite beating expectations with
January-March profit more than doubling to 2.4 billion pounds.
"A drop in investment banking earnings, lower revenues and a
cautious outlook took the shine off a doubling in profits,"
wrote Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
Though the equities trading business heavily outperformed,
analysts highlighted the 35% drop in revenues from its fixed
income, currencies and commodities, which was largely linked to
tighter spreads and lower client activity.
The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 index
advanced 0.5%.
After the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained a status quo on
its monetary policy on Wednesday, investors' focus has now
turned towards Bank of England's meeting on May 6 where it might
ease its foot off the stimulus pedal and slow bond purchases as
Britain's economy rebounds.
In February, the BoE forecast the economy would grow 5% this
year after slumping by almost 10% in 2020.
"The combination of a shallower Q1 contraction, faster exit
from lockdown, a more supportive near-term fiscal policy, and a
better external backdrop should see the Bank push up its 2021
projections closer to 7% from 5%," wrote Deutsche Bank economist
Sanjay Raja in a note.
"An inevitable growth upgrade would give the monetary policy
committee (MPC) enough ammunition to start QE taper."
Among other stocks, cybersecurity company Darktrace
soared 32% in its trading debut.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru and Julien Ponthus in
London; editing by Uttaresh.V, Kirsten Donovan)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
Barclays (BARC)
British American Tobacco (BATS)
