FTSE 100 Hits Record High On Strong Earnings

(RTTNews) - The U.K. market's benchmark index FTSE 100 climbed to a new record high Wednesday morning, buoyed by some strong corporate earnings announcements. Worries about a fresh escalation in Middle East tensions weighed on sentiment and limited market's upside.

Joint strikes in Iraq by the United States and Saudi Arabia, targeting Iran-backed militias, raised concerns about a prolonged war in the Middle East.

The benchmark index FTSE 100 was up 28.43 points or 0.26% at 10,899.45 about half an hour past noon, coming off a record high of 10,950.69 it touched earlier in the session.

Standard Chartered gained more than 3% after announcing higher quarterly profit and a $1bn share buyback. In addition, the Board announced an interim ordinary dividend of 20.4 cents per share, up 66% from last year.

In the second quarter, profit before taxation grew 2% to $2.33 billion from last year's $2.28 billion. Earnings per share were 75.3 cents, up 7% from 70.5 cents a year ago.

Reckitt Benckiser climbed about 2.3% after delivering a "strong" second quarter and maintaining its annual forecast.

Weir Group jumped 8%. The Sage Group moved up 5.2%. Reckitt Benckiser, Burberry Group, Metlen Energy & Metals, Rentokil Initial, AstraZeneca, Experian, Compass Group, Centrica, Computacenter and Melrose Industries gained 1%-2.3%.

Miners Glencore and Rio Tinto rallied 4.2% and 2.7%, respectively. Glencore reported that its earnings from trading commodities doubled in the first half of the year.

Energy stocks BP and Shell climbed 2.5% and 1.6%, respectively, riding on higher crude oil prices.

Aberdeen Group drifted down 4.5%. Entain dropped about 3.2%. Diageo, Barclays, Diploma, Unilever, IAG, Admiral Group, Haleon, Coca-Cola HBC, Segro, Smiths Group, Lion Finance, Standard Life, 3i Group, Investec, Halma, Aviva and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners shed 1%-2.5%.