London close: Markets shrug off German downgrade rumours to finish higher

24th Jul 2013 16:56

Unconfirmed rumours of a downgrade to Germany's sovereign debt rating rattled markets on Wednesday afternoon, but stocks recovered to register moderate gains by the close of trade.The FTSE 100 finished the session up 23 points at 6,620.Senior Market Analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets said: "The FTSE 100 hit its highest levels since the end of May, but continues to struggle to overcome the 6,660 area which has acted as a cap for the last few days, and given this lack of follow through we've seen markets slowly drift back and the gains melt away in the afternoon session, amidst vague chatter of a German downgrade."Market chatter was pinning the possible downgrade on Egan-Jones, though the ratings agency quickly denied the rumours, according to various reports.London's benchmark index started out strongly this morning after results and trading updates from a number of blue-chip companies - easyJet, Tate & Lyle, Kingfisher, Compass - impressed investors. ARM Holdings also surged early on but finished in negative territory by the afternoon.Stocks were also helped higher this morning by Eurozone purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) for both the services and manufacturing sectors which beat expectations in July, pushing the composite PMI from 48.7 to 50.4, well ahead of the 49.1 consensus forecast. This was the best reading of private-sector activity in 18 months. Markets seemingly shrugged off the news that HSBC's flash China manufacturing PMI fell from 48.2 to 47.7 in July, missing expectations of no change. Downside risks to Chinese growth were tempered yesterday by the country's Premier Li Keqiang who assured that the pace of expansion would not fall below the "bottom line" of 7.0% this year, indicating that any slowdown could be met with more stimulus.FTSE 100: Updates from heavyweights impresseasyJet surged today after the budget airline achieved a 10.5% rise in third-quarter revenue to £1.14bn, bolstered by an increase in capacity and growth in revenue per seat. Food ingredients firm Tate & Lyle gained after saying that adjusted profits were in line with expectations in spite of tough weather conditions in the States in the first quarter.Foodservice and support services company Compass rose after saying expectations for the full year remain "positive and unchanged" following a strong third quarter.Kingfisher, the DIY retail group behind B&Q and Screwfix, said it is on track to hit expectations for the first half after a pick-up in activity in the second quarter, causing shares to rise.Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline was trading higher after its results out this afternoon showed that worldwide sales in the second quarter rose 2.0% to £6.62bn. Chip designer ARM Holdings was a high riser early on but slipped into the red by the close despite delivering better-than-expected second-quarter sales and profits. The company also said that dollar revenues would be "at least in line" with market expectations.FTSE 250: Investors toast strong finish from JD WetherspoonJD Wetherspoon impressed the market on Wednesday with shares surging after the pubs group said that trading in the fourth quarter was better than expected. The company said that it is now on track to achieve a 'slightly better outcome (before any exceptional items) for the current financial year [ending July 23rd] than previously anticipated'.Transport firm National Express was also flying high after beating estimates across the board with its first-half results, helped by a record performance in non-rail profit. Group sales, profits and the dividend all came in ahead of consensus forecasts.FTSE 100 - RiserseasyJet (EZJ) 1,385.00p +3.67%TUI Travel (TT.) 377.30p +3.60%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 853.00p +3.58%Antofagasta (ANTO) 885.00p +3.27%Kingfisher (KGF) 396.60p +3.07%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 321.70p +2.85%Melrose Industries (MRO) 275.90p +2.76%ITV (ITV) 158.70p +2.52%SSE (SSE) 1,625.00p +2.20%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,710.00p +2.09%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,737.00p -2.23%BG Group (BG.) 1,185.00p -2.11%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,069.00p -2.02%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,021.00p -1.92%Capita (CPI) 1,037.00p -1.61%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 996.00p -1.39%Croda International (CRDA) 2,417.00p -1.31%Meggitt (MGGT) 540.50p -1.19%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 216.90p -1.09%ARM Holdings (ARM) 888.50p -1.06%FTSE 250 - RisersWetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 750.00p +12.28%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 172.80p +5.37%Premier Farnell (PFL) 231.00p +4.29%Bumi (BUMI) 225.00p +3.93%National Express Group (NEX) 254.50p +3.67%Marston's (MARS) 164.50p +3.46%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 281.00p +3.12%Britvic (BVIC) 522.00p +3.06%FirstGroup (FGP) 98.50p +2.93%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 426.80p +2.84%FTSE 250 - FallersAlent (ALNT) 360.40p -3.20%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 113.10p -3.17%Telecity Group (TCY) 964.00p -2.77%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 566.00p -2.75%Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,785.00p -2.72%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 245.40p -2.62%Homeserve (HSV) 284.40p -2.60%AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 326.60p -2.57%Renishaw (RSW) 1,527.00p -2.55%Carpetright (CPR) 660.00p -2.51%BC