FTSE 100 extends gains to third session, focus turns to CPI
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FTSE 100, FTSE 250 add 0.3% each
Insurers, utilities and pharma stocks drive broader gains
Crest Nicholson shares dive 20.7% after Bellway scraps plans to takeover
Aug 13 (Reuters) – UK stocks ended higher on Tuesday, helped by insurers’ shares as investors looked to crucial inflation numbers at home and in the United States for direction on global interest rates, while Crest Nicholson lagged the mid-caps.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), opens new tab and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC), opens new tab added about 0.3% each and extended gains to a third consecutive session.
Industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551020), opens new tab dipped 0.6% on easing copper prices as investors turned to profit-taking.
In stocks, British homebuilder Crest Nicholson (CRST.L), opens new tab fell 20.7% to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after Bellway (BWY.L), opens new tabscrapped its 720 million pound ($923.33 million) takeover proposal for its midcap peer.
But worries of stickier wage growth will hold back the Bank of England “on cutting rates at its next meeting, focusing on November as the likely candidate for another round of easing,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
Investors are now looking ahead to the crucial consumer prices index (CPI) reading from the UK and the U.S. on Wednesday to strengthen bets on monetary policy easing by the BoE and the Federal Reserve.
