London midday: Stocks maintain gains ahead of Fed; Kingfisher rallies

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still firmly in the black by midday on Tuesday as investors eyed the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting and an expected rate cut. The FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 8,341.85.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "While markets remain certain of a rate cut at tomorrow's Fed meeting, the jury is still broadly split as to whether the reduction will be a quarter point or a half point. US Bond yields were largely flat yesterday suggesting little change in opinion.

"There will be a few final pieces of the jigsaw for policy makers to digest later today, including US retail sales and industrial production."

In equity markets, B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after it lifted the lower end of full-year profit guidance as it posted interim results in line with expectations.

The company now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £510m to £550m, up from £490m to £550m. Pre-tax profit for the six months to 31 July rose 2.3% to £324m.

Auction Technology rose sharply after an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral' at JPMorgan Cazenove, which said the shares are overly discounting earnings risk into 2025.

Bridgepoint advanced as Jefferies upped its price target on the stock to 400p from 320p as it "set the scene" into the capital markets day in October.

On the downside, gambling technology firm Playtech fell as it agreed to sell its Italian business, Snaitech, to Flutter Entertainment for €2.3bn in cash. The shares rose sharply on Monday after it said it struck a revised deal with Mexican gambling operator Caliente Interactive over their Caliplay joint venture and that annual adjusted earnings would be slightly ahead of expectations.

Essentra tanked as it warned that full-year adjusted operating profit would be below market expectations, pinning the blame on softer market conditions in Europe and a slower-than-expected rate of recovery in the Americas region.

JTC also fell sharply after results.

THG was down after the e-commerce firm confirmed it was "actively undertaking detailed work" to review potential structures to facilitate the demerger of its technology services arm, THG Ingenuity.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,341.85 0.77% FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,038.11 0.52% techMARK (TASX) 4,913.82 0.30%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Kingfisher (KGF) 310.10p 6.82% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 160.25p 3.86% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,563.00p 3.43% easyJet (EZJ) 500.00p 2.61% Entain (ENT) 744.20p 2.56% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,620.00p 2.38% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,376.00p 2.33% Mondi (MNDI) 1,434.50p 2.28% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 477.80p 2.14% Croda International (CRDA) 4,043.00p 2.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,947.00p -0.77% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,182.50p -0.63% Darktrace (DARK) 582.40p -0.41% SEGRO (SGRO) 901.20p -0.35% Unilever (ULVR) 4,935.00p -0.30% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,948.00p -0.26% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,239.00p -0.09% Convatec Group (CTEC) 234.00p -0.09% Compass Group (CPG) 2,459.00p -0.04% Unite Group (UTG) 984.00p 0.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,233.00p 5.38% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,110.00p 3.13% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 369.60p 3.12% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 307.60p 3.08% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 410.50p 3.01% Kainos Group (KNOS) 895.00p 2.64% Discoverie Group (DSCV) 627.00p 2.62% Travis Perkins (TPK) 939.50p 2.57% Harbour Energy (HBR) 262.20p 2.46% Computacenter (CCC) 2,480.00p 2.31%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Essentra (ESNT) 134.60p -19.50% JTC (JTC) 1,034.00p -8.82% Playtech (PTEC) 731.00p -2.92% NCC Group (NCC) 174.20p -1.91% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 183.60p -1.82% Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 72.60p -1.76% Harworth Group (HWG) 189.00p -1.56% OSB Group (OSB) 384.80p -1.38% Derwent London (DLN) 2,482.00p -1.04% Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,532.00p -0.78%