London midday: Lower than expected CPI props up stocks
Stocks had recovered from early losses come midday on Tuesday, propped up by lower-than-expected UK CPI data and ahead of a key speech from US central bank chair Janet Yellen scheduled for later in the day.
As of 1146 GMT the Footsie was higher by 0.18% or 12.84 points at 7,291.76.
For Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK: "With Fed chief Janet Yellen due on Capitol Hill later today to testify to US lawmakers, markets appear to be betting that she won’t say anything too substantive one way or the other on the US economy, playing the data dependence card and in the process keeping the Fed’s options open for a March rate rise."
Yellen's testimony is scheduled before the US Senate Banking Committee for 1500 GMT.
Nonetheless, still weighing on sentiment was news that Donald Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn had stepped down from his post overnight amid allegations of improper contact with the Russian embassy in Washington DC before he took up his new position.
His resignation came as the new US administration was in the midst of preparations of key summits with other countries, beginning with Europe.
Closer to home, UK inflation in January rose to its highest level since June 2014, according to official figures published on Tuesday, though not quite as high as was expected.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that the consumer price index grew 1.8% in the year to January, up from 1.6% in December but slightly short of the 1.9% consensus forecast.
On a monthly basis CPI fell 0.5% in January, as expected and the same as the previous month.
The undershooting of forecasts came as core CPI, which excludes more volatile prices, remained at 1.6% for the second month in a row, short of an expected 1.7% rise.
Change underway at Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce posted a record £4.6bn pre-tax loss but revealed better than expected underling profits and said its transformation programme was well underway with cost-cutting at the top end of expectations. For 2017 the engine maker said it expected "modest" performance improvements and targeted free cash flow to be "similar to 2016".
TUI’s first quarter loss narrowed and revenue grew as the Anglo-German travel group said this left it confident of growing underling earnings 10% for the full year.
Anglo American said its Kumba Iron Ore operation would report underlying earnings of $438m for the year ended 31 December 2016 compared with $238m a year earlier. The operation was put up for sale last year as part of a restructuring.
Retailer Next has announced that John Barton will be retiring as non-executive chairman and stepping down from the board on 1 August, to be succeeded by Michael Roney, the former chief executive of Bunzl.
Acacia Mining returned to profit in the final quarter of 2016 as it said 2017 gold production would increase to between 850,000-900,000 ounces at lower costs of $880-$920 per oz. The final dividend of 8.4 cents a share for a total dividend of 10.4 cents, was more than double 2015's 4.2 cents and came as fourth quarter pre-tax profits rose to $62m compared with a loss of $131.9m last year.
Productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company Spectris announced its full year results for the 12 months to 31 December on Tuesday, with 13% growth in reported sales to £1.35bn, though sales growth was only 1% at constant exchange rates, with a 2% like-for-like sales decline.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,282.89 0.05%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,767.96 0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 3,340.50 -0.24%
FTSE 100 - Risers
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,221.00p 5.53%
Pearson (PSON) 668.50p 2.69%
Capita (CPI) 522.00p 1.66%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 896.50p 1.47%
Old Mutual (OML) 216.00p 1.46%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,400.00p 1.45%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,546.00p 1.44%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 237.40p 1.19%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,673.00p 1.09%
Wolseley (WOS) 5,115.00p 1.09%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 725.50p -1.96%
BAE Systems (BA.) 606.00p -1.62%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,395.50p -0.99%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,605.50p -0.97%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,515.50p -0.94%
Sage Group (SGE) 639.00p -0.93%
Prudential (PRU) 1,607.00p -0.92%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,234.00p -0.89%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,145.00p -0.88%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,624.00p -0.79%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Acacia Mining (ACA) 498.50p 7.27%
Spectris (SXS) 2,501.00p 3.18%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 337.00p 2.43%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,646.00p 2.05%
Bodycote (BOY) 695.50p 1.83%
RPC Group (RPC) 929.50p 1.81%
Henderson Group (HGG) 219.90p 1.76%
Drax Group (DRX) 385.30p 1.69%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 177.10p 1.66%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 115.70p 1.58%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 248.50p -3.04%
Evraz (EVR) 246.50p -2.91%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 516.50p -2.09%
Greggs (GRG) 1,014.00p -1.84%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,099.00p -1.79%
Just Eat (JE.) 511.50p -1.63%
BTG (BTG) 547.00p -1.44%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,505.00p -1.44%
Senior (SNR) 190.20p -1.40%
esure Group (ESUR) 204.90p -1.40%