London midday: FTSE maintains gains as Brits head to the polls

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still firmly in the black by midday on Thursday as Brits headed to the polls amid expectations the Labour party will be voted into power for the first time in 14 years. The FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 8,228.56.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The ballot boxes close at 10pm this evening. Opinion polls are suggesting one of the biggest landslides the nation has ever seen for Labour, but they have been wrong before.

"In a shortened trading session ahead of today's 4 July celebrations, investors have been digesting weak jobs data in the US. Private payroll growth came in at 150,000 for June, below analyst forecasts. And weekly jobless claims continued their upwards journey for the ninth week in a row. All eyes will now be on tomorrow's non-farm payroll numbers."

On the macro front, a survey out earlier showed that growth in the UK construction sector eased by more than expected in June due to a renewed fall in housing activity.

The S&P Global CIPS construction PMI fell to 52.2 last month, down from a two-year high of 54.7 in May.

This was the fourth straight month above 50 - the level that separates contraction from growth - but well below the 53.6 reading expected by economists.

S&P Global reported a slower rise in new orders across the whole construction sector, which some manufacturers put down to election uncertainty, as well as softening of growth in civil engineering.

However, the only sub-sector to record a decline in activity was housing, where output fell solidly following a first increase in 19 months during May.

One bright spark was the labour market, with construction job creation rising to its highest levels since August 2023.

"While there were signs of a slowdown in the latest survey period, most notably around housing activity, firms indicated that a slowdown in new order growth was in part related to election uncertainty. We may therefore see trends improve once the election period comes to an end," said Andrew Harker, the economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"Moreover, confidence in the year ahead outlook remained strong and firms increased employment to the largest extent in ten months."

In equity markets, Smith & Nephew surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after activist investor Cevian Capital bought a 5% stake in the medical equipment manufacturer. Cevian now holds 43.9m shares in the company, making it the third largest shareholder.

Barclays rose after agreeing to sell its German consumer finance business to Austrian bank Bawag Group for "a small premium" to net assets.

Precision instrument maker Spectris gained as it announced the acquisition of US-based SciAps for up to $260m (£205m). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, SciAps is a specialist provider of handheld instruments for materials analysis.

Polymer maker Victrex reversed earlier losses as it reported volume and revenue growth for the third quarter but cautioned over difficult trading at its medical segment.

Great Portland Estates was up as it reported robust leasing activity in the quarter ended 30 June.

In broker note action, Bunzl was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at HSBC, while Ibstock was trading higher after RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage of the shares at 'outperform'.

Next, Workspace and Big Yellow were in the red as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,228.56 0.70% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,572.01 0.21% techMARK (TASX) 4,762.24 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,057.50p 7.23% Melrose Industries (MRO) 576.80p 3.22% Bunzl (BNZL) 3,104.00p 2.37% Vistry Group (VTY) 1,250.00p 1.71% WPP (WPP) 741.60p 1.56% IMI (IMI) 1,806.00p 1.46% Standard Chartered (STAN) 732.60p 1.38% Convatec Group (CTEC) 240.80p 1.35% Whitbread (WTB) 2,995.00p 1.32% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 470.60p 1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Next (NXT) 8,946.00p -1.82% Land Securities Group (LAND) 633.50p -0.55% United Utilities Group (UU.) 979.40p -0.55% Darktrace (DARK) 580.40p -0.55% Croda International (CRDA) 4,068.00p -0.54% Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 798.60p -0.47% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,398.00p -0.42% Haleon (HLN) 324.80p -0.40% Unite Group (UTG) 903.00p -0.39% easyJet (EZJ) 461.40p -0.32%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ibstock (IBST) 172.40p 4.11% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 241.40p 3.87% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 149.80p 3.38% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 80.80p 3.06% W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 69.20p 2.67% Me Group International (MEGP) 170.80p 2.28% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 233.50p 2.19% Spectris (SXS) 2,908.00p 2.04% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 907.50p 2.02% PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,330.00p 1.92%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Workspace Group (WKP) 580.00p -3.17% Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,172.00p -2.17% Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 4,020.00p -1.83% Primary Health Properties (PHP) 92.95p -1.80% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 598.00p -1.64% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,038.00p -1.64% Currys (CURY) 73.10p -1.62% Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 110.20p -1.61% Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 510.00p -1.54% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 734.00p -1.54%