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(Reuters) – London stocks rose on Friday, boosted by energy and industrial metal miners, tracking an uptick in commodity prices, while investors awaited U.S. inflation data, which could firm up bets for a September rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 gained 0.2% by 0708 GMT.
Personal goods shares rose 1.1% after French luxury goods company Hermes reported a 13% rise in second-quarter sales on Thursday.
Energy stocks gained 0.8% as oil prices rose slightly. Top energy firms BP and Shell rose more than 1% each. [O/R]
Precious metal miners rebounded with a 0.5% gain on firmer gold prices after the sector logged its worst day since May 2022 on Thursday. Industrial metal miners traded 1% higher. [MET/L] [GOL/]
Data-wise, investors are awaiting U.S. personal consumption expenditure (PCE) numbers for June later in the day, which could shed more light on the Fed’s stance on interest rate cuts.
This follows Thursday’s data that showed the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, but inflation pressures subsided, keeping September rate cut bets intact.
In other updates, Man Group jumped 2.7% after the hedge fund posted a rise in assets under management to a record $178.2 billion in the six months to end-June, beating analysts’ expectations.
NatWest gained 8% to top the FTSE 100, after the bank’s first-half pre-tax operating profit fell by a less than expected 16% to 3 billion pounds ($3.86 billion).
Drax jumped 14.7% to the top of the FTSE 250 after the power generator posted higher first-half profit and said it expects annual profit to be at the top-end of market expectations.