By Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -The UK’s main stock index edged higher on Thursday, led by gains in the travel and mining sectors, while shares trading ex-dividend weighed on real estate and beverages.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.4%, while the domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 dipped 0.2%, registering its third straight session of declines.
Media was the best performing index with a 1.4% rise, while the travel and leisure index followed with a 1.1% gain as Whitbread shares rose 3.7% after Bernstein upgraded the hotel group’s stock.
Precious metal miners climbed 1.1% on higher gold prices, fuelled by strong expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September. [GOL/]
Real estate investment trusts led sectoral declines, falling 1.9%, as LondonMetric Property dropped 3.5%, trading ex-dividend.
Spirits maker Diageo also fell 1.2% as it traded ex-dividend.
Meanwhile, expected UK economic growth and predictions that the Bank of England will keep interest rates high for longer than in the U.S. have lifted the British pound, making it vulnerable if monetary policy forecasts change.
Among individual stocks, CAB Payments gained 4.8% after the money transfer group collaborated with Visa over cross-border payments.
Centrica rose 1.5% after Jefferies upgraded the energy supplier’s stock to “buy” from “hold”. Bunzl added 2.7% after RBC raised the rating on the business supplies distributor’s stock to “sector perform” from “underperform”.
The FTSE 100 is on track for its third straight weekly rise and a slight pullback for the month, lagging behind both Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 and the U.S. S&P 500 in August.
Investors are awaiting Friday’s U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure data for clues on the quantum of the Fed’s likely interest rate cut in September.
(Reporting by Khushi Singh, Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Richard Chang)
