By Patrick Munnelly, Market Strategist, Tickmill
The FTSE 100 ended Wednesday’s trading session on a modest positive note, gaining 0.52% by the close, following the overnight gains on Wall Street.
Headline inflation expected to decrease
Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey commented on the UK economy at the Sintra forum in Portugal, stating that it had turned out to be more resilient than anticipated. He noted that there were clear signs of persistent inflation and emphasised that the BoE would take the necessary actions to bring inflation back to its target. Bailey also mentioned that headline inflation is expected to decrease significantly this year. However, he acknowledged that the market does not believe that the BoE is close to completing its actions at the moment, suggesting that further measures may be implemented in the future.
FTSE 100 biggest movers
On the positive side of today’s ledger shares of enterprise software firm Sage Group Plc LON:SGE surged to a more than 23-year high following an upgrade by JP Morgan. The stock climbed as much as 4.99%, reaching its highest level since March 2000. Analysts at JP Morgan raised their rating on the stock to “overweight” from “neutral” and increased the target price to 1,110p from 860p. JP Morgan believes that Sage is uniquely positioned to drive the automation of back-office software for small and mid-sized businesses in the next decade. They also expect Sage to sustain a double-digit organic revenue growth rate until 2025 and potentially accelerate further in 2026-30. As a result, Sage Group Plc emerged as the top percentage gainer on the blue-chip FTSE 100 index. The stock was up over 5% by the close, bringing its year-to-date gains to around 22%.
On the negative side of the ledger Ocado LON:OCDO investors continue to get whipsawed. Shares of the online grocer experienced a significant decline, down 5% at the close following a media report stating that U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon had denied any plans for a potential bid.
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