FTSE 100 lifted by strong earnings from Shell, StanChart

By Pranav Kashyap and Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) – Britain’s blue-chip share index rose on Thursday as shares of Shell and Standard Chartered jumped after strong results, while investors also took comfort from the Federal Reserve dismissing the possibility of more interest rate hikes.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 8,157.63 points, hovering close to its record high of 8,199.95 points hit on Tuesday.

Standard Chartered jumped 6.6% to a six-month high and led gains on the blue-chip index after the emerging markets-focused lender posted a 5.5% rise in first-quarter pretax profit that beat estimates.

“This was as close to a clean sweep of first-quarter results as you can get. Pretty much every major line item was better than markets had expected,” Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said.

The FTSE 350 banks index rose 1.3% to a more than five-year high.

Shell climbed 1.6% after the energy giant reported a much better-than-expected first-quarter profit of $7.7 billion on the back of strong oil trading and higher refining margins.

Asian markets rose too, while other European markets were subdued after the Fed kept interest rates steady as expected on Wednesday and Chair Jerome Powell suggested future policy moves could be to keep holding or cutting rates rather than a hike.

Market momentum will be driven by future data, which will influence if a cut by the Fed will happen this year. However, money markets have priced a September rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE) after the Fed’s meeting.

The BoE is set to meet next week.

The UK’s mid-cap FTSE 250 was flat after two days of losses.

Among other stocks, Smurfit Kappa gained 3.7% after the paper packaging producer reported a first-quarter core profit that was higher than the final quarter of 2023 when it had signalled a dip in demand for packaging was at an end.