London’s FTSE 100 inches higher as investors await US data, Fed minutes

3:46 am Wednesday, August 21st, 2024

(Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 inched higher on Wednesday, supported by miners, while traders sensed caution among global markets ahead of U.S. economic data, release of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes and speeches from policymakers this week.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.1% at 8,277.36, as of 0711 GMT, after logging its worst day since Aug. 5 in the previous session. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index edged 0.2% higher.

Industrial metal miners were the biggest gainers in the benchmark index with a 1.6% gain, despite a downtick in copper prices. [MET/L]

Precious metal miners jumped 1.2% as bullion hovered below its record-high levels following a rally fuelled by Western fund inflows and U.S. rate-cut optimism. [GOL/]

The benchmark index closed 1% lower in the previous session, dragged down by heavyweight energy shares.

The energy sector led losses on Wednesday as well, with a 0.4% decline, as oil prices slipped on estimates showing swelling U.S. crude inventories and expectations of easing tensions in the Middle East. [O/R]

Global markets took a breather from a recovery in the last week following comforting U.S. data and a brutal sell-off earlier this month.

Investors are eagerly awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming later this week, where the policymaker is expected to acknowledge the case for a September rate cut amid dovish comments from some Fed officials recently.

Later in the day, preliminary revisions to U.S. labour data are due to be published. Federal Reserve minutes are also expected to reinforce a dovish stance.

Among individual stocks in London, Mobico advanced 6.2% after the British transport company posted an over 28% jump in its first-half profit.

Watkin Jones slid 30% after it missed profit estimates for the year and said it was reviewing options on funding, followed by a downgrade to “hold” from “buy” by brokerage Peel Hunt.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)