FTSE 100 Rises On Rate Cut Hopes; Vodafone Group Moves Up Sharply
(RTTNews) - U.K.'s FTSE 100 index has moved up sharply on Tuesday, amid hopes of a rate cut by the Bank of England next month after data showed an increase in the nation's unemployment rate in the third quarter. The passage of a short-term funding bill late Monday to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is also aiding sentiment.
The FTSE 100 was up 74.75 points or 0.76% at 9,861.90 about half an hour past noon.
Vodafone Group is up 5.3% as the broadband and mobile operator announced the repurchase of 6,514,459 shares from Goldman Sachs as part of efforts to enhance shareholder value.
WPP is climbing up 4.5%. Haleon, British American Tobacco, Lloyds Banking Group, Informa and Berkeley Group Holdings are gaining 2 to 2.25%.
Barratt Redrow, Barclays Group, BT Group, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Pearson, GSK, RightMove, Natwest Group, AstraZeneca and Imperial Brands are also notably higher.
Shares of scientific tools maker Oxford Instruments are soaring 12.5% after order momentum returned in the second quarter.
Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Croda International, Auto Trader Group, 3i Group and Sainsbury (J) are down 2 to 3.1%.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK unemployment rate increased in the third quarter. The ILO jobless rate rose to 5% in the three months to September, which was above the economists' forecast of 4.9%. The unemployment rate was 4.8% in the three months to August.
Data showed that average earnings including bonuses grew 4.8 percent from the previous year, which was slower than the expected growth of 5%.
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