By Pranav Kashyap, Khushi Singh and Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) -The main UK share indexes rose on Monday, supported by miners as Shanghai copper prices touched record highs, while betting group Entain rallied on speculation of a potential takeover.
The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 closed 0.4% higher following a sluggish start to the session, while the midcap FTSE 250 index added 0.7%.
Shares of mining giants Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American rose in the range of 1.9% and 4.2% as copper prices climbed to new peaks, catching up with a rally in other commodities on strong manufacturing data from top metals consumer China. [MET/L]
“Mining stocks have generally lagged but they may be starting to move now which is definitely a trend that’s worth watching,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Investors looked ahead to U.S. inflation and UK GDP figures later this week for clues on the path of monetary policy.
UK equities logged weekly losses on Friday after stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data prompted investors to scale back bets of several interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year.
Britain’s GDP data on Friday is expected to show the economy grew 0.1% in February, on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.2% rise in January.
“Wetter weather and lower oil/energy production will, we think, keep GDP from budging very much,” said Sanjay Raja, senior economist at Deutsche Bank. “Looking ahead, we think the UK economy is at a turning point following on from its short and shallow recession last year.”
A Deloitte survey showed concern about economic uncertainty among large British companies has fallen to its lowest since mid-2021, but the improved mood is not yet translating into stronger investment.
Among other stocks, Entain rose 5.2% after a Sunday Times report said private equity firms including Apollo were circling the betting and gaming group.
Easyjet gained 3.3% after UBS raised its price target on the airline’s stock.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap, Khushi Singh and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Shounak Dasgupta and Christina Fincher)
