Source: Sharecast
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.4% at 9,696.74.
Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "The UK's FTSE 100 reached a record high on Tuesday, buoyed by a surge in HSBC's stock prices following the bank's increase in its income forecast, while investors prepared for a series of significant events later in the week.
"Market participants are now setting their sights on upcoming earnings reports from major tech giants on Wall Street, alongside key interest rate decisions from major central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank."
On Wednesday, quarterly earnings are due from Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet. Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, noted: "Together, their shares represent around $9 trillion of global stock market value."
On home shores, the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ showed that increased competition among retailers and widespread discounting resulted in a slowdown in UK shop price inflation in October.
Shop prices were up 1.0% year-on-year in October, with growth slowing from 1.4% in September, the BRC-NIQ Shop Price Monitor showed.
Non-food prices fell by 0.4%, following a 0.1% fall in September, while food inflation eased to 3.7% from 4.2%, as a pickup in fresh food inflation to 4.3% from 4.1% was offset by a sharp drop in ambient food inflation to 2.9% from 4.2%.
"Easing global sugar prices helped to bring down prices of chocolate and confectionary, a treat for those preparing Halloween parties," said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson. "Beyond food, discounts came early to electricals and health and beauty, as retailers started promotions ahead of Black Friday month."
Dickinson said that, ahead of the Budget announced in late-November, the government needs to relieve cost pressures on both consumers and retailers.
"Labour’s promised business rates reform must deliver a meaningful cut to retailers’ rates bills, and ensure that no store pays more. Rising employer National Insurance Contributions and a new packaging tax have directly contributed towards rising inflation, according to the Bank of England. Adding further taxes on retail businesses would inevitably keep inflation higher for longer," she said.
In equity markets, Airtel Africa shot to the top of the FTSE 100 after it posted a sharp jump in half-year core earnings on the back of surging revenues and an increase in customer numbers.
HSBC also rallied as it reported a fall in third-quarter profits as a $1.1bn legal charge weighed on the bottom line, but lifted its guidance for 2025 net interest income to $43bn "or better", from $42bn.
Russ Mould said: "Having got the bad news out of the way early, with yesterday’s revelation of a provision linked to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, HSBC had some good news to deliver to investors with its third-quarter update.
"While the Madoff-linked hit saw profit come in below expectations at a headline level, on an underlying basis the business is performing well and, crucially, somewhat better than the market was expecting.
"A key metric for any bank is net interest income - the difference between what the bank pays out to savers and receives from borrowers in interest - so the boost to guidance here and double-digit quarterly growth are significant."
Barclays and Standard Chartered also rose.
Spirax got a boost after UBS upgraded the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and hiked the price target to 10,500 from 7,500p.
On the downside, BT fell following a report it is considering the launch of new a low-cost mobile brand to compete with new rivals in the market including Revolut and Monzo.
According to the Financial Times, BT is considering options to enter the budget market, which could involve creating a new brand in-house or buying an existing virtual network operator.
Housebuilders Barratt Redrow and Berkeley lost ground amid reports that chancellor Rachel Reeves could announce a 1% annual levy on homes worth more than £2m in the upcoming Budget.
Bodycote slumped after JPMorgan trimmed its price target on the stock to 600p from 610p and lowered estimates.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,696.74 0.44%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,479.00 -0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 5,588.70 0.24%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Airtel Africa (AAF) 268.40p 16.39%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,050.20p 4.60%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 93.00p 4.42%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,779.00p 2.43%
Barclays (BARC) 404.45p 2.21%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,148.00p 2.19%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,891.00p 2.08%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,500.00p 2.01%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,141.50p 1.92%
Mondi (MNDI) 863.00p 1.74%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 393.80p -2.45%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,300.00p -1.92%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 431.60p -1.86%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 9,662.00p -1.83%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,090.00p -1.49%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,349.00p -1.46%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,368.00p -1.42%
BT Group (BT.A) 184.20p -1.37%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,065.00p -1.36%
Rightmove (RMV) 683.40p -1.30%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Computacenter (CCC) 2,802.00p 3.55%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 640.00p 3.23%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 764.00p 2.55%
Quilter (QLT) 184.90p 2.44%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 189.30p 2.19%
PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,424.00p 2.15%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 596.00p 2.05%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 440.00p 2.04%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 65.10p 2.04%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 199.60p 1.78%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bodycote (BOY) 631.00p -5.25%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 962.00p -5.03%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 231.60p -3.50%
Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF) 80.90p -2.65%
Carnival (CCL) 1,933.00p -2.62%
Genuit Group (GEN) 375.00p -2.60%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 134.70p -2.53%
Vistry Group (VTY) 668.00p -2.48%
Unite Group (UTG) 578.50p -2.45%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 94.20p -2.28%