FTSE 100 extends gains to third session, focus turns to CPI

FTSE 100, FTSE 250 add 0.3% each
Insurers, utilities and pharma stocks drive broader gains
Crest Nicholson shares dive 20.7% after Bellway scraps plans to takeover

Aug 13 (Reuters) – UK stocks ended higher on Tuesday, helped by insurers’ shares as investors looked to crucial inflation numbers at home and in the United States for direction on global interest rates, while Crest Nicholson lagged the mid-caps.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), opens new tab and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC), opens new tab added about 0.3% each and extended gains to a third consecutive session.

Most sub-sectors rallied on the day, with both life (.FTNMX303010), opens new tab and non-life (.FTNMX303020), opens new tab insurers leading gains after Just Group (JUSTJ.L), opens new tab beat its previous 2024 profit forecast, sending its shares 14.5% higher.

Pharma and biotech (.FTNMX201030), opens new tab boosted the benchmark index the most with a 1.1% rise.

On the flip side, automobile and parts (.FTNMX401010), opens new tab led declines, pulled down by a 4.4% fall in Dowlais Group (DWL.L), opens new tab, as it said it was exploring a potential sale of its GKN Powder Metallurgy unit, among other options, and cut its annual revenue forecast.

Industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551020), opens new tab dipped 0.6% on easing copper prices as investors turned to profit-taking.

In stocks, British homebuilder Crest Nicholson (CRST.L), opens new tab fell 20.7% to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after Bellway (BWY.L), opens new tab scrapped its 720 million pound ($923.33 million) takeover proposal for its midcap peer.

Data out of the UK showed a slowdown in average earnings growth and an unexpected fall in the unemployment rate, pushing the pound up against the dollar.

But worries of stickier wage growth will hold back the Bank of England “on cutting rates at its next meeting, focusing on November as the likely candidate for another round of easing,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

Investors are now looking ahead to the crucial consumer prices index (CPI) reading from the UK and the U.S. on Wednesday to strengthen bets on monetary policy easing by the BoE and the Federal Reserve.

($1 = 0.7798 pounds)

Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Susan Fenton

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