By Khushi Singh and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -London’s FTSE 100 ended slightly higher on Wednesday, as traders remained cautious ahead of release of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes and speeches from policymakers this week, while midcap stocks soared as pound hovered near one-year high levels.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index moved 0.1% higher, after logging its worst day since Aug. 5 in the previous session. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index edged 1% higher. .The pound steadied on Wednesday near the one-year high it touched against the dollar on the previous day, with the U.S. currency under pressure from rising expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Investors assessed a downward revision in U.S. payrolls data, while the focus is now on the release of minutes from the Fed’s July policy meeting, expected at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), at which Chair Jerome Powell hinted at a possible rate cut in September.
Market participants will look for hints on the pace of monetary policy easing following a batch of mixed economic data from the U.S. recently.
The chemicals index led sectoral gains with a 2.2% gain, supported by a 4.4% jump in Elementis after Barclays raised the specialty chemicals stock to “overweight” from “equal weight” and hike price target.
The beverages index followed with a 2% rise, as spirits maker Diageo added 2% in unison with gains in European drink stocks Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau.
On the contrary, pharma and biotech stocks were the top sectoral decliners, losing 0.5%, while oil and gas shares lost 0.3% as crude prices ticked lower.
Later in the week, investors are eagerly awaiting Fed Chair Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, where the policymaker is expected to acknowledge the case for a September rate cut amid dovish comments from some Fed officials recently.
Among individual stocks in London, Mobico advanced 17.7% after the British transport company posted an over 28% jump in its first-half profit.
Watkin Jones slid 32.8% after it missed profit estimates for the year and said it was reviewing options on funding, followed by a downgrade to “hold” from “buy” by brokerage Peel Hunt.
(Reporting by Khushi Singh, Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Jonathan Oatis)
