By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A
(Reuters) – Britain’s internationally-focussed FTSE 100 on Thursday closed above 8,000 points for the first time as upbeat earnings from Centrica and Standard Chartered countered global risk-off sentiment after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, off an intra-day record high hit earlier in the day, but still at its highest ever closing level of 8,012.53 points.Â
The exporter-heavy index has had a stellar start to the year, gaining 7.5% so far as positive corporate earnings and rising commodity prices supported the index.
Data showed U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in January while jobless claims unexpectedly fell, fanning speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates for longer than expected.
“The fact that it (inflation) hasn’t weakened has given the market bit of a reason to pause,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.
“Having rallied so much, the index does need a lot of good news to drive it higher from here. But we might be at risk of running out of that in the short term.”
The domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcaps closed flat.
Shares of Centrica jumped to top the FTSE 100, adding 5.7%, after the British Gas owner’s annual profit more than tripled and it announced an extension of its share buyback programme.
Standard Chartered rose 4.1% after the lender reported a 28% rise in annual pretax profit and unveiled a $1 billion share buyback.
Meanwhile, investors will have an eye out for Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill’s speech on the UK economy later in the day.
Among individual stocks, pharmaceutical company Indivior tumbled 13.6% after reporting its full-year results, tanking to the bottom of FTSE 250.
Shares of Vodafone rose 2.3% on a report the telecom company is exploring options for its African unit Vodacom. Gains in the stock lifted the telecommunications sector up 2.3%.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mark Potter)
