Leading shares broke a two day losing streak, but came off their best levels after a late downturn in Europe and continuing falls in the bond market.
Investors were lifted by hopes that interest rate rises would be put on hold for a while yet in the UK - after the latest Bank of England inflation report - and the US - after disappointing retail sales. But the weak US data also hit the dollar and strengthened the euro, putting pressure on European stock markets.
In China, disappointing investment, industrial production and retail sales figures prompted talk of further stimulus to boost the economy, on top on the recent rate cut.
Eurozone growth was generally better than expected but worries about Greece’s financial situation continued to be a drag, as time runs out for a solution to the crisis.
Oil suffered a spate of profit taking after moving sharply higher in the wake of a weekly fall in US crude stocks, while bond yields in Europe continued to rise after recent turmoil in the market.
So overall, it was a mixed day which saw the FTSE 100 finish 15.83 points higher at 6949.63 after earlier reaching as high as 6989.
Among the risers, South African paper maker Mondi put on 116p to £14.14 after the company said first quarter underlying operating profit had jumped 29%. It benefited from both sales growth and paper prices holding up.
Barratt Developments built up a 18.5p rise to 564p after it reported strong demand and increased completitions, with the UK election apparently having little impact. Rival Persimmon also benefitted, rising 72p to £18.20, while Taylor Wimpey added 4.3p to 182.3p.
But Compass Group fell 44p to £11.19. The catering group said first half revenues grew 5.7%, but warned of a possible slowdown in north America from 8% growth to 6% in the second six months. There was also disappointment at a lack of buyback news.
Admiral dropped 23p to £14.52 as the insurer’s chief executive Henry Engelhardt said he was stepping down next year, to be replaced by co-founder David Stevens.
British Gas owner at Centrica dipped 1.7p to 276.6p despite the company signing extensions to its gas supply contracts with Statoil and Gazprom. Analyst Angelos Anastasiou at Whitman Howard said:
These are sensible moves, and the value and scale of the contracts is indicative of the importance of Centrica’s position as a key, integrated UK energy supplier, with the announcement highlighting that these contracts “take the total amount that Centrica has committed in securing gas and electricity, through a range of suppliers, to over £50bn”. We believe that, amongst others, these comments are helpful, in the context of the Competition and Markets Authority review into energy supply.
