By Pranav Kashyap and Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) -The UK’s FTSE 100 closed at a near five-month high on Thursday, as pest control group Rentokil announced an overhaul of its struggling North America business, while investors continued to bet on further policy easing by the Bank of England (BoE).
The blue-chip index rose 0.7% to close at its strongest level since late May, while the domestically focused FTSE 250 index climbed 0.6% to close at a more than two-week high.
Rentokil Initial jumped 8.8% after it said its North America finance chief has left the group and it appointed a new chief marketing officer and chief operating officer. That helped offset disappointment around a profit warning.
London-listed precious metal miners such as Hochschild Mining and Centamin rose 9.4% and 4.6%, respectively, as gold prices touched a record high on expectations of more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. [GOL/]
The European Central Bank cut rates for the third time this year earlier on Thursday, saying the outlook for the wider euro zone economy was worsening.
Meanwhile, data on Wednesday that showed British inflation dropped to the lowest since April 2021 prompted traders to price in a stronger chance of a UK rate cut in November.
The spotlight is also shifting from macro factors to the earnings season.
“What is missing at the moment for British equities to start performing better and start an uptrend, is really earnings to start delivering better. That has been the missing link,” said Lilian Chovin, head of asset allocation at the British private bank Coutts.
While U.S. and euro zone stock markets are trading near record highs, British stock markets have lagged somewhat, with the midcap index far from its peak hit in 2021.
Mondi lost 7.5% after the packaging company reported a lower core profit compared with the previous three-month period.
Smiths Group lost 1.8%, Persimmon fell 1.8% while Howden Joinery dropped 0.5% as they traded without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out.
Entain climbed 2.8% after the gambling group said it expects annual core profit to be towards the top end of its earlier forecast.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Alexandra Hudson)
