(Sharecast News) - Stocks have started the session higher taking their cue from the gains seen overnight on Wall Street after the Trump administration changed tack, voicing support for a broad stimulus package for the economy.
A spokesman for Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, reportedly said that Trump wanted a comprehensive package, with White House spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, later saying the administration was "open to going with something bigger".

Against that backdrop, the FTSE 100 was advancing 0.55% to 6,010.92, while the FTSE 250 was ahead by 0.37% at 18,012.79.

Investors were also digesting the latest UK gross domestic data published earlier in the UK.

According to the Office for National Statistics, GDP expanded at a month-on-month pace of 2.1% in August, falling short of economists' forecasts for a rise of 4.6%.

That left the level of economic activity in the country 9.2% below where it stood in February, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics said that meant the Monetary Policy Committee's own projection for third quarter GDP to be only 7.0% below its pre-Covid 19 level at the end of the third quarter would not be met.

Construction sector output was strongest, increasing by 3.0% versus July and taking the three-month/three-month rate of change changed from -11.6% in July to 18.5% for last month.

Hence, it was "very likely" that the MPC would extend its quantitative easing programme at either its November or December meetings.

LSE hives off Borsa Italiana

London Stock Exchange has agreed the sale of Borsa Italiana for about €4.32bn (£3.9bn) to Euronext, the company said on Friday. The company is selling Borsa Italiana to get approval for its $27bn purchase of financial data business Refinitiv, announced in August 2019. LSE chief executive David Schwimmer said the company continued to make good progress on the "highly attractive" Refinitiv transaction.

British Land reinstated its dividend after performance at its retail assets improved following the Covid-19 lockdown. The commercial property company said it would announce an interim divided in November and that payouts would be 80% of underlying earnings per share. It will pay the dividend twice a year instead of quarterly. British Land suspended the dividend in March to protect its finances as much of the UK economy shut down to stem the spread of Covid-19. The FTSE 100 company said performance measures at its buildings had improved since non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen in June.

Biffa has acquired the industrial and commercial waste collection business Simply Waste Solutions, it announced on Friday, which focuses on the south of England. The FTSE 250 company said it had acquired all of the share capital of Camo, which trades under the Simply Waste brand, for an upfront debt and cash free consideration of £ 35m. That was being funded from existing committed debt facilities.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,012.32 0.57%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,008.10 0.35%
techMARK (TASX) 3,866.10 0.12%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 233.20p 19.38%
British Land Company (BLND) 381.30p 3.81%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 568.80p 3.12%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,020.80p 2.53%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 982.50p 2.44%
M&G (MNG) 165.30p 2.38%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,928.60p 2.38%
Glencore (GLEN) 173.76p 2.34%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,549.00p 2.28%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,240.50p 2.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,391.00p -2.80%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 104.80p -2.51%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,009.50p -1.70%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,585.00p -1.37%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,923.00p -1.35%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 120.00p -1.03%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,477.00p -1.02%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 537.00p -0.92%
Ferguson (FERG) 7,964.00p -0.87%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,421.00p -0.70%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 234.80p 4.36%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 145.00p 3.87%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 99.38p 3.74%
Capita (CPI) 31.10p 3.25%
Redrow (RDW) 473.60p 3.18%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 161.75p 3.12%
National Express Group (NEX) 171.30p 2.94%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 526.20p 2.89%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 52.10p 2.66%
Biffa (BIFF) 233.50p 2.64%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Petropavlovsk (POG) 31.20p -4.59%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,725.00p -3.05%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 227.80p -2.23%
Vistry Group (VTY) 609.00p -2.17%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 61.70p -1.91%
Trainline (TRN) 380.80p -1.50%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 99.20p -1.49%
AJ Bell (AJB) 413.50p -1.43%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,541.00p -1.28%
Gamesys Group (GYS) 1,212.00p -1.14%