London close: Stocks rise as investors mull long-awaited Budget

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose on Wednesday as investors digested the long-awaited autumn Budget - most of which had already been leaked - with one final monumental leak from the Office for Budget Responsibility itself just half an hour before the Chancellor was due to deliver her speech. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.9% at 9,691.58, while sterling was 0.3% higher against the dollar at 1.3222.

Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG, said: "Unlike last year's NICs move, nothing in the autumn budget is obviously inflationary, preserving the Bank of England's scope to keep cutting rates.

"Financial markets reacted with a fall in UK yields, an appreciation of the pound sterling and a higher FTSE 100 - though the back-loaded consolidation remains a clear risk. The most likely outcome is growth beating forecasts as inflation eases and rates fall, but fiscal uncertainty still hangs over the medium-term outlook."

In equity markets, wealth manager St James's Place and online trading platform IG Group rallied after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed a stamp duty holiday for newly-listed London shares and ISA reforms to encourage investment in UK equities, and announced plans for new investing hubs.

Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group surged after Reeves announced the abolition of bingo duty from its current 10% rate, a freeze in casino gaming duty bands in 2026-27 and spared in-person gambling from any tax increases.

Ladbrokes owner Entain ended up, having tumbled earlier in the session after Reeves said that from April 2026, there would be an increase in remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%. She also said that from April 2027, a new rate of general betting duty for remote betting will be introduced at 25%.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo and gold miners Endeavour and Hochschild all shone as gold prices rose.

Pets at Home gained after saying it was taking "action at pace" to address its disappointing retail performance after interim profits at the pet shop and veterinary chain slumped by a third.

The company said it has kickstarted a restructuring program to reduce group overheads by £20m, which will incur non-underlying costs of £6-8m this financial year.

On the downside, housebuilder Berkeley Group was the biggest loser on the FTSE 100.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Berkeley's shares slumped as it has form in selling high-end apartments and fancy houses. Investors might be taking the view it is most exposed to the mansion tax announced at the Budget, which would make higher end homes less attractive."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,691.58 0.85% FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,617.41 0.00% techMARK (TASX) 5,547.68 0.54%

FTSE 100 - Risers

St James's Place (STJ) 1,361.00p 5.30% Fresnillo (FRES) 2,604.00p 5.17% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 344.20p 4.49% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 76.74p 3.93% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 93.80p 3.44% Entain (ENT) 772.40p 3.40% Barclays (BARC) 422.95p 3.16% Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 690.50p 3.14% Land Securities Group (LAND) 612.50p 3.03% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,645.00p 2.75%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,726.00p -2.97% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,560.00p -2.50% Kingfisher (KGF) 303.20p -2.16% The Sage Group (SGE) 1,067.00p -1.84% Compass Group (CPG) 2,371.00p -1.54% Experian (EXPN) 3,313.00p -1.28% Relx plc (REL) 3,028.00p -1.01% Convatec Group (CTEC) 235.40p -1.01% Haleon (HLN) 370.80p -0.99% Diageo (DGE) 1,716.50p -0.98%

FTSE 250 - Risers

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,134.00p 10.20% Rank Group (RNK) 118.00p 10.07% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 337.60p 8.90% Greggs (GRG) 1,561.00p 6.19% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 379.60p 6.03% Playtech (PTEC) 256.50p 5.77% Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 672.50p 5.08% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,462.00p 4.78% Workspace Group (WKP) 380.50p 4.25% Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,136.00p 4.22%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 136.80p -5.33% Harbour Energy (HBR) 204.60p -4.66% Hays (HAS) 56.65p -2.33% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 321.60p -2.07% Marshalls (MSLH) 177.20p -1.99% Travis Perkins (TPK) 604.50p -1.87% Genuit Group (GEN) 321.00p -1.83% Pagegroup (PAGE) 236.80p -1.74% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 101.60p -1.74% Breedon Group (BREE) 332.20p -1.72%