London close: Stocks finish higher as Bank of England holds rates

(Sharecast News) - London stocks finished positively Thursday, after the Bank of England stood pat put on interest rates, saying that it still expected economic growth in Britain to pick up as Brexit uncertainties eased and global growth staged a modest recovery.
The FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.44% at 7,573.82, and the FTSE 250 was 0.014% firmer at 21,666.14.

At the same time, sterling was 0.34% weaker against the dollar at $1.3034, and had slipped 0.44% on the euro at €1.1716.

Rate-setters at the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street kept all their main policy settings unchanged, with the Bank Rate steady at 0.75%, as expected, and all options remaining on the table.

"Monetary policy could respond in either direction to changes in the economic outlook in order to ensure a sustainable return of inflation to the 2% target," the Monetary Policy Committee said in a summary of its decision.

However, the MPC vote was somewhat more hawkish than expected, with some economists anticipating that six of the committee's nine members would vote for a cut in interest rates, up from two the last time around.

"All told, we still think that interest rates are much more likely to rise next year than to fall," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"But as both the identity of the next Governor and the willingness of the PM to sacrifice the economy to achieve Brexit by his timetable are unknown, the outlook for monetary policy remains exceptionally cloudy."

Thursday's rate announcement came after The Times reported that hedge funds had been eavesdropping on the central bank's press conferences before they were officially broadcast, after its internal systems were hijacked.

According to Reuters, the central bank had referred the misuse of its press conference audio feed to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Investors were also digesting news overnight that the House of Representatives voted to impeach US President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The process would now pass to the Senate, where 67 out of 100 votes are required to convict and remove Trump from office.

"It is a sign of the times when the impeachment of the president of the United States produces nothing but a shrug," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com.

"By becoming only the third president in history to be impeached, Mr Trump joins a select club. Markets simply don't care."

Wilson quipped that the Republican-controlled Senate would never abandon their president.

"The impeachment process has and remains so partisan that Mr Trump will not be removed from office."

On the trade front, China released another list earlier of US products that will be exempted in the first round of additional tariffs.

The country's Ministry of Finance said the exemptions, which last until 25 December 2020, applied to six items, most of them chemical products.

There was a lack of news on the corporate front as the pre-Christmas lull began to set in.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group slipped 0.52% after it parted company with the bosses of its investment bank, as chief executive Alison Rose seeks to shake up the underperforming business.

Chris Marks had stepped down as chief executive and chair of NatWest Markets, and Richard Place quit as the division's finance director.

Elsewhere, Crest Nicholson was 1.05% higher as the housebuilder appointed Tom Nicholson as chief operating officer with effect from 1 January.

Nicholson has held roles at Trafalgar House Group, Berkeley Group and Try Homes.

Shares of travel firm TUI were off 3.03% after a downgrade to 'hold' at Berenberg, while Weir Group was knocked 0.96% lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Credit Suisse.

Outsourcer Capita was in the red by 5.08% after a downgrade at Deutsche Bank.

Real estate investment trust GCP Student Living was under the cosh, sliding 4.33% after it said it planned to raise £75m through a share placing in response to demand from various pension funds managed by APG Asset Management.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,573.82 0.44%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,666.14 0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 4,178.54 0.67%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 239.65p 2.33%
Kingfisher (KGF) 219.90p 2.09%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,634.00p 2.06%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 9,106.00p 2.04%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 558.50p 1.92%
British Land Company (BLND) 613.60p 1.76%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 601.80p 1.62%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 202.10p 1.56%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,604.00p 1.52%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,837.50p 1.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

NMC Health (NMC) 1,536.50p -11.13%
Pearson (PSON) 615.00p -6.11%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,958.50p -3.19%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 948.20p -3.03%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,151.00p -1.69%
Fresnillo (FRES) 576.80p -1.44%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 736.60p -1.37%
Evraz (EVR) 400.90p -1.35%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 940.20p -1.26%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,042.00p -1.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 346.00p 7.86%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 285.00p 5.56%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 473.00p 5.30%
Contour Global (GLO) 203.50p 4.90%
Hunting (HTG) 404.40p 4.28%
Savills (SVS) 1,129.00p 4.06%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 205.00p 3.43%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 235.00p 3.28%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 420.00p 2.69%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 595.00p 2.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,635.00p -5.22%
Capita (CPI) 169.00p -5.08%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 535.00p -5.01%
GCP Student Living (DIGS) 189.60p -4.33%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 151.70p -3.80%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 221.00p -2.81%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,470.00p -2.50%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 309.60p -2.32%
Finablr (FIN) 172.50p -2.21%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 115.80p -2.20%