(Reuters) -British equities edged higher on Wednesday, as investors assessed a mixed bag of corporate earnings and awaited a Bank of England rate cut on Thursday.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.2% as of 0916 GMT, rising for a third consecutive session after touching a four-month low on Friday.
The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 also rose 0.2%.
Insurance stocks rose by 2.7%, after Hiscox reported a 6.2% rise in first-half group net insurance premiums. Shares of the British insurer jumped 8.7%, making it the biggest percentage gainer in the FTSE 100.
Oil and gas sector rose 2.3%, tracking higher oil prices. [O/R]
Heavyweight Shell and BP were among the top gainers in the benchmark index, both up 2.3%.
London-listed shares of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Coca-Cola HBC – bottling units of U.S. beverage giant Coca-Cola – fell 11.6% and 9.1%, respectively, after their quarterly reports, dragging on the FTSE 100.
Glencore fell nearly 4% after the UK miner reported a drop in first-half core profit.
British healthcare stocks fell marginally after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington would initially place a “small tariff” on pharmaceutical imports, eventually increasing it to 250%.
Among other individual stocks, TP ICAP fell the most in the FTSE 250, down 9.8%, after the British inter-dealer broker posted weaker-than-expected half-year operating profit.
Bank of England is widely expected to cut its key interest rate to 4% from 4.25% and to lower it again before the year’s end, despite inflation nearing double the central bank’s 2% target in June.
“The decision to cut rates again is likely to be far from unanimous…how the Bank couches its accompanying commentary will send a strong signal regarding its perception of the trajectories for economic activity and inflation in coming months”, said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, European Strategist at Raymond James Investment Services in a note.
(Reporting by Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
