London midday: Stocks gain on BoJ's negative interest rate

29th Jan 2016 11:00

(ShareCast News) - London stocks gained on Friday as investors cheered the Bank of Japan's latest policy announcement.The Bank of Japan unexpectedly decided to introduce a negative interest rate of -0.1% for new commercial banks' current account deposits. It means the banks will charged by the BoJ for some deposits and hopefully encourage them to use reserves to lend to businesses. The central bank said the rate could be extended further into negative territory in future.Stimulus measures, low interest rates and the government of Shinzo Abe's 'Abenomics' recovery strategy have so far failed to push inflation towards the BoJ's 2% target."As we look ahead to the final day of a disappointing month the surprise decision by the Bank of Japan to join the Swiss National Bank and the European Central Bank in cutting rates into negative territory has given markets in Asia and here in Europe a welcome lift into the weekend, and as such is likely to translate into a positive US open as well," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.Meanwhile, oil prices reversed earlier gains on doubts about OPEC forging an agreement on production cuts to address the supply glut. Brent crude fell 0.50% go $33.72 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 0.09% to $33.19 per barrel.In economic data, GfK's UK consumer confidence survey showed an unexpected improvement in January. The sentiment index rose to 4 this month from 2 in December, beating estimates of 1."UK consumers remain resiliently bullish this month with no sign of the January Blues denting their view on the state of their personal finances for both the past year and also for the rest of 2016," said Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK.US gross domestic product data at 1330 GMT is forecast to show an annualised 0.8% increase in the last three months of the year, down from 2% growth in the third quarter."Despite an increase in payroll employment and total hours worked in the fourth quarter, it appears that GDP growth slowed as net exports fell and businesses cut back on inventory accumulation," according to HSBC analysts.In company news, Sky gained after reporting strong revenue growth for the first half of the year and announcing that James Murdoch will return as chairman.AG Barr edged higher after the maker of Irn-Bru said it expected to deliver fourth quarter revenue growth in excess of 2.5%, which would be lapping the 5% growth seen in the corresponding period a year prior.British Land jumped after Quadrature Capital signed a contract for Level 33 of the the company's Leadenhall Building - colloquially known as the Cheese Grater.Rank Group rallied after reporting a 5% increase in first half revenue on a like-for-like basis to £370.1m, with operating profit before exceptional items up 11% to £46.1m.Mining stocks were in the red, including Antofagasta, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton, as the recent rebound in commodity prices began to recede with gold down 0.23% on the Comex.Market MoversFTSE 100 (UKX) 5,992.76 1.03%FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,326.92 0.80%techMARK (TASX) 3,126.70 0.94%FTSE 100 - RisersOld Mutual (OML) 167.20p 3.59%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 244.20p 3.17%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,741.00p 2.38%Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 312.60p 2.32%Intu Properties (INTU) 294.30p 2.08%Barclays (BARC) 182.10p 2.07%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,334.00p 2.07%Prudential (PRU) 1,348.00p 2.04%BT Group (BT.A) 475.70p 2.04%Sky (SKY) 1,062.00p 2.02%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 370.80p -3.44%Glencore (GLEN) 87.46p -3.31%Anglo American (AAL) 268.05p -2.85%BHP Billiton (BLT) 668.10p -1.69%Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,676.50p -1.38%Fresnillo (FRES) 700.00p -1.27%TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,165.00p -0.68%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 539.50p -0.55%Mondi (MNDI) 1,121.00p -0.27%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,493.00p -0.20%FTSE 250 - RisersSmith (DS) (SMDS) 368.40p 7.37%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 335.90p 6.60%Investec (INVP) 444.50p 4.34%Tullow Oil (TLW) 170.50p 4.28%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 638.50p 4.07%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 568.00p 3.84%ICAP (IAP) 480.20p 3.36%Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 740.00p 2.78%Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 167.60p 2.76%Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 689.00p 2.68%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 127.00p -10.88%Evraz (EVR) 56.50p -3.99%Acacia Mining (ACA) 189.30p -3.12%Allied Minds (ALM) 277.10p -2.43%CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,598.00p -2.26%AO World (AO.) 149.40p -2.03%Senior (SNR) 216.30p -1.73%Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 150.40p -1.70%Aggreko (AGK) 843.00p -1.52%Supergroup (SGP) 1,436.00p -1.37%