LONDON (ShareCast) – (ShareCast News) – London’s top-flight index was firmly on the font foot on Thursday, with miners pacing the advance, as Asian markets stabilised following intervention from the People’s Bank of China (HKSE: 3988-OL.HK – news) , and as expectations of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve were pushed back. Asia-focused Standard Chartered (HKSE: 2888.HK – news) posted strong gains. Brenda Kelly at London Capital Group said: “Emerging market exposure has ground down shares in the bank over the past number of weeks. Given that the average price target is above the £10 marker, and the stock is currently trading at 750p you could say that bargain hunting amongst the financial sector stocks was inevitable.” Heavily-weighted mining stocks rallied as worries about China receded, at least for now. Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L – news) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL – news) , Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF – news) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L – news) were all in the black as most metals prices advanced.
BHP Billiton was also benefiting from a rating upgrade. Exane BNP Paribas lifted its stance on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ following the recent correction in the stock. It (Other OTC: ITGL – news) said a drastic cut in capex and cost advantages in iron ore and copper are starting to mitigate petroleum risks. “If the dividend payment is prioritised over any capex after maintenance, a 7.8% dividend yield is hard to ignore,” said Exane.
Risers Anglo American (AAL) 708.80p +6.70% Standard Chartered (STAN) 751.90p +6.31% Shire Plc (Xetra: S7E.DE – news) (SHP) 5,020.00p +6.00% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,070.00p +5.99% Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L – news) (ANTO) 592.00p +5.43% Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,309.50p +4.98% ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L – news) (ARM) 917.50p +4.86% Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW – news) (BARC) 263.50p +4.56% Sage Group (LSE: SGE.L – news) (SGE) 517.00p +4.44% GKN (GKN (LSE: GKN.L – news) ) 292.80p +4.42% Fallers Whitbread (WTB) 4,805.00p -0.31%
