By Shubham Batra and Roshan Abraham
(Reuters) -Britain’s equity indexes rose on Thursday as global markets cheered data that allayed concerns of a recession in the United States, while the UK economy grew in line with expectations.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.8% higher and the midcap FTSE 250 added 0.7%, both rising for a fifth consecutive session.
Britain’s economy grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024, building on a rapid 0.7% recovery in the first quarter of the year after a shallow recession in the second half of 2023.
The pound rose 0.3% against the U.S. dollar, but money markets trimmed bets on the Bank of England cutting rates by 25 basis points in September to a 33% chance from 40% on Wednesday.
Benign U.S. consumer inflation data overnight had reinforced bets for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates next month, while weekly jobless claims dropped to a one month low last week and retail sales increased by the most in nearly 1-1/2 years in July.
“The data has really helped to put to rest market participants’ concerns about a potential U.S. recession,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
Non-life insurers were the top sectoral gainers with motor and home insurer Admiral Group up 6.5% after posting a forecast-beating 32% rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of 2024 and saying it would pay a special dividend.
Industrial metal miners were among the worst performers, clocking up losses for a third session as Rio Tinto and Anglo American traded ex-dividend, or without entitlement to their latest payouts.
Index heavyweight AstraZeneca rose 2% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted its blockbuster cancer drug Imfinzi a priority review for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer in the United States.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Kirsten Donovan)
