London close: Stocks end higher after US data beats forecasts

26th Aug 2014 17:07

- FTSE closes up 47.51 at 6,822.76- UK services growth suffers slowdown- US durable goods jump 22.6%techMARK 2,833.11 +0.35%FTSE 100 6,822.76 +0.70%FTSE 250 15,998.00 +0.74%It was a strong finish to Tuesday's session, with traders keen to keep up with the gains seen amongst global equities during the bank holiday. After coming off declines following an initial jump, the FTSE 100 ultimately ended 47.51 points higher at 6,822.76, with afternoon trading helped by stronger-than-expected data in the US. The initial gain was largely thanks to comments made at the Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers last Friday, at which Fed Chair Janet Yellen gave what was seen by some as a somewhat hawkish speech. Also taking centre stage last week was European Central Bank (ECB) Govenor, Mario Draghi, who indicated that he had concerns about expectations for inflation and said greater flexibility was needed in fiscal policy."Latest news flow from arguably two of the most influential people in the market, Draghi and Yellen, has had the net effect of confirming that major central banks remain supportive of prices through the ECB's willingness to ease and the Fed's intention to require a continuation of economic strength to tighten," Spreadex's David White said. UK service firms endure slowest growth in a yearBack in the UK, a survey revealed that the services industry slumped to its slowest growth in a year in the last three months.Business volumes in the three months to August rose at their weakest rate since the same month in August 2013, the latest Services Sector Survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed.About 43% of firms said volumes were up compared with three months ago, and 17% said they were down, giving a balance of 25%.US data beats forecastsAcross the Pond, reports showed that both durable goods and consumer confidence rose more than had been anticipated.US durable goods surged 22.6% in July, following a 2.7% gain in June, driven by aircraft orders. Analysts had expected an 8% increase."Overall, with some producers starting to push up against capacity constraints and loans to businesses rising at a rapid rate, we suspect that investment will prove to be one of the economy's bright spots in the second half of this year," Capital Economics said.The Conference Board's index for US consumer confidence rose to 92.4 in August from a revised 90.3 in July, surprising analysts who had expected a reading of 89.However, expectations of the economic outlook fell slightly to 90.9 from 91.9 in July.ABF, RSA lifted by broker ratingsAssociated British Foods was a top performer on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated its 'overweight' rating on the stock. RSA was higher after Bank of America gave the stock a 'buy' recommendation, up from its previous rating of 'neutral', prompted by a cleaner balance sheet and better management and transparency. Packaging and cleaning supplies group Bunzl was up after reporting a lift in underlying half-year profits and increasing its dividend. Leading the downside was Antofagasta, the Chilean copper producer, after it saw its profit before tax for the period ended 30 June fall from $981m to $850.7m due to lower copper output and prices, as well as the impact from higher taxes in Chile. Net cash costs rose by 15.9% to $1.46 per pound. Earnings per share came in at 33.6 cents (consensus: 36 cents). The company maintained its full-year guidance for production. Other miners, including Rio Tinto, Fresnillo and Randgold Resources, were all registering some of the biggest losses seen on the top tier on Tuesday. Oil and gas explorer Petrofac saw revenues decline to $2.5bn over the six months ended on 30 June. Operating profits on an EBITDA basis were off by 16% to $340m. Engineering, construction, operations and maintenance (ECOM) order intake stood at $7.2bn for the first half, raising the backlog 35% to $20.3bn, "giving very good revenue visibility for the rest of the year", the company said.FTSE 100 - RisersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 358.10p +3.50%CRH (CRH) 1,420.00p +2.97%easyJet (EZJ) 1,354.00p +2.65%Ashtead Group (AHT) 973.00p +2.42%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 181.80p +2.31%G4S (GFS) 271.20p +2.19%Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,871.00p +2.10%Mondi (MNDI) 1,028.00p +2.09%Rexam (REX) 499.30p +2.09%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 365.70p +2.07%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 798.50p -1.18%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,210.00p -1.04%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,357.50p -1.03%Fresnillo (FRES) 912.50p -0.98%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,050.00p -0.76%St James's Place (STJ) 740.00p -0.67%Pearson (PSON) 1,121.00p -0.62%Sage Group (SGE) 397.00p -0.35%Persimmon (PSN) 1,344.00p -0.30%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,123.00p -0.27%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 211.00p +8.21%Evraz (EVR) 113.90p +4.98%Cairn Energy (CNE) 190.90p +4.60%Infinis Energy (INFI) 219.80p +3.44%BTG (BTG) 652.50p +3.41%Hays (HAS) 133.30p +3.41%Smith (DS) (SMDS) 283.30p +3.13%Keller Group (KLR) 918.50p +2.97%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 128.70p +2.80%Bellway (BWY) 1,653.00p +2.80%FTSE 250 - FallersRegus (RGU) 179.00p -8.91%Telecity Group (TCY) 716.00p -5.97%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 61.40p -3.69%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,267.00p -3.04%Computacenter (CCC) 604.00p -2.27%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 135.00p -2.17%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 49.08p -1.84%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 231.50p -1.74%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 179.50p -1.70%Betfair Group (BET) 1,071.00p -1.47%NR