London midday: FTSE extends gain as miners rally after China data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains by midday on Friday, with miners pacing the advance after data revealed a slowdown in Chinese inflation. The FTSE 100 was up 1.5% at 7,337.24.

Although markets remained open after the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, it is expected that the day of her funeral - likely to be 19 September - will be a public holiday, so markets will be closed.

On the macro front, figures released earlier by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that inflation in China slowed in August amid weak demand.

Consumer price inflation declined to 2.5% on the year from 2.7% in July, coming in below consensus expectations of 2.8%. This was driven by a moderation in food price inflation, which dropped to 6.1% from 6.3%.

Meanwhile, producer price inflation fell to 2.3% in August from 4.2% a month earlier, versus consensus expectations of 3.1%. It marked the slowed pace since February 2021.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, came in at 0.8%, in line with July.

Capital Economics said: "Consumer price inflation fell in August and remains below the People's Bank of China's preferred ceiling of 3%, leaving room for the Bank to ease policy further.

"Meanwhile, producer price inflation declined to its lowest in 18 months. We expect both inflation measures to continue falling over the rest of the year."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were the top performers on the FTSE 100 as copper prices rallied, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all higher.

Online fashion retailer Asos edged up as it said total sales and adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to the end of August are set to be in line with market expectations, but that sales in August had been weaker than expected.

Bridgepoint shares tumbled after the FTSE Russell said it had decided not to increase the weighing of its shares in its indices. Shares in Bridgepoint had rallied last week in anticipation of index inclusion.

IT services firm Computacenter also slid as it posted a drop in interim profits.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,373.91 1.54% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,109.33 1.22% techMARK (TASX) 4,310.36 0.38%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Anglo American (AAL) 2,973.50p 6.41% Glencore (GLEN) 497.00p 5.49% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,213.00p 5.39% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,966.50p 5.10% Fresnillo (FRES) 740.80p 4.69% Centrica (CNA) 86.18p 4.11% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,961.00p 3.57% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,784.00p 3.30% Standard Chartered (STAN) 612.20p 3.27% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 856.80p 2.96%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 122.80p -1.60% Avast (AVST) 713.40p -0.94% Aveva Group (AVV) 2,907.00p -0.38% Meggitt (MGGT) 798.20p -0.05% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 126.35p 0.00% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,096.00p 0.09% Ocado Group (OCDO) 752.00p 0.11% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,171.00p 0.18% Compass Group (CPG) 1,897.50p 0.29% AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,544.00p 0.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 370.30p 9.85% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,770.00p 6.65% Ferrexpo (FXPO) 155.30p 6.59% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 143.40p 6.22% TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 150.20p 5.63% Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 118.10p 5.16% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 62.80p 5.02% AJ Bell (AJB) 275.20p 4.96% CMC Markets (CMCX) 230.50p 4.54% BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,334.00p 4.22%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 248.40p -18.13% Computacenter (CCC) 2,212.00p -10.23% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 434.80p -4.80% Vistry Group (VTY) 790.50p -3.66% Provident Financial (PFG) 180.10p -2.33% Countryside Partnerships (CSP) 255.00p -2.07% Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,794.00p -1.21% Frasers Group (FRAS) 798.00p -0.75% Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 161.40p -0.55% Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 72.90p -0.55%