London midday: NatWest tops risers as Footsie hits fourth record high of the week

(Sharecast News) - Decent gains in the banking sector were providing a lift to UK equity markets on Friday following better-than-expected results from NatWest, sending the FTSE 100 to yet another all-time high.

Stocks in the heavyweight mining sector were also boosting the benchmark index as commodity prices rose.

Just before midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 8,111, on track to notch its fourth record close of the week. The benchmark finished Thursday's session at 8,078.86, having gained 3.3% in the past eight trading sessions. The FTSE 250, however, jumped 1.1% after Darktrace agreed to be bought by Thomas Bravo in a deal worth $5bn.

"What a fantastic week for the FTSE 100. We've had new record highs, yet more takeover action, and everyone is talking about UK stocks in a positive way which hasn't been seen for ages," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"There was no stopping the blue-chip index on Friday as NatWest's results went down well and we saw gains across most of the market. The breadth of sectors moving higher suggests investor sentiment continues to improve."

In economic news, UK consumer confidence edged higher in April, a long-running survey showed on Friday, as falling inflation helped boost sentiment. The latest GfK Consumer Confidence Index rose two points to -19, after March's score of -21 was unchanged on February. In April 2023, the index stood at -30.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: "While the overall index score remains negative, all of the underlying five measures this April are significantly better than they were last April.

US inflation in focus

Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower on Thursday after US GDP data revealed that, while economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter, price pressures picked up with the so-called core price deflator nearly double the rate of the preceding two quarters.

Friday will see the release of March's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index - the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation - due out at 1330 BST, which is expected to show annual inflation rising to 2.6% from 2.5% in February. The core PCE index however is forecast to slow to 2.6% from 2.8%.

"The fear is to see a higher inflation print, of course, which would further batter the Fed cut expectations. But the 'good' news is, it looked like yesterday's price action already embedded today's core PCE print. Therefore, bad news are - at least - partially priced in," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

NatWest rises on Q1 beat

NatWest posted a less-than-expected 27% fall in first-quarter earnings, with pre-tax operating profits falling to £1.3bn from £1.8bn a year earlier. Analysts were forecasting a figure closer to £1.2bn. "NatWest Group has delivered a strong set of results for the first quarter - with an operating profit of £1.3 billion - as we remain focused on the priorities we set out in February, which will help us shape the future of this bank," said chief executive Paul Thwaite.

Lloyds, Standard Chartered and HSBC were also in demand, while Barclays was flat.

Mining stocks were mostly higher as iron ore, copper, silver and gold prices rose, with Rio Tinto, Glencore and Antofagasta in positive territory.

However, Anglo American was bucking the trend, falling 1% after a 16% surge the previous day, after rejecting an "opportunistic" £31bn bid from rival miner BHP, saying it significantly undervalued the company. "The BHP proposal is opportunistic and fails to value Anglo American's prospects, while significantly diluting the relative value upside participation of Anglo American's shareholders relative to BHP's shareholders," Anglo said in a statement, adding that the proposed structure was also "highly unattractive".

Darktrace was a high riser on the FTSE 250, jumping 18% after announcing that the newly-formed Thomas Bravo entity, Luke Bidco, had agreed to acquire it for $5bn in an all-cash deal. The FTSE 250 cybersecurity specialist said under the terms of the deal, each Darktrace shareholder would receive $7.75 in cash for each share, representing a significant premium over recent trading prices.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,111.23 0.40%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,822.32 1.12%
techMARK (TASX) 4,536.20 0.46%

FTSE 100 - Risers

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 305.80p 5.52%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,972.00p 3.49%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,942.00p 3.16%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,173.00p 2.49%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,900.00p 2.48%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,312.00p 2.30%
Schroders (SDR) 354.80p 2.19%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,018.00p 2.18%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 413.80p 2.00%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.14p 1.84%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 260.40p -5.52%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 354.00p -2.29%
Entain (ENT) 795.00p -1.75%
Pearson (PSON) 974.40p -1.73%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,886.00p -1.25%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,207.00p -1.12%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,537.00p -0.90%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 337.00p -0.88%
Next (NXT) 9,046.00p -0.64%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,785.00p -0.61%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 608.00p 17.60%
NCC Group (NCC) 135.00p 5.63%
IP Group (IPO) 49.30p 4.34%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 348.60p 4.31%
Trainline (TRN) 314.60p 4.17%
Abrdn (ABDN) 146.80p 4.00%
Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 578.00p 3.77%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 746.00p 3.68%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 346.00p 3.28%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 226.60p 3.09%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

WH Smith (SMWH) 1,145.00p -3.13%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 151.40p -2.32%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 210.50p -0.94%
Inchcape (INCH) 780.50p -0.70%
Jlen Environmental Assets Group Limited NPV (JLEN) 93.90p -0.63%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,760.00p -0.53%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 51.70p -0.39%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 340.00p -0.35%
NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red (NESF) 75.75p -0.33%
Bodycote (BOY) 676.00p -0.29%