FTSE 100 Modestly Higher As Miners Rise

(RTTNews) - The UK market is up in positive territory a little past noon on Friday, supported by solid gains in the mining sector thanks to higher metal prices. Investors are also digesting the data showing the UK economy stagnated in July as expansions in services and construction sectors were offset by the decline in industrial production.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 33.97 points or 0.36% at 9,331.55 a few minutes past noon.

Beazley is gaining about 3.2%. Glencore is up nearly 3%, while Hiscox, Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Centrica, Anglo American Plc, United Utilities, Relx, Legal & General and Weir Group are gaining 1.5 to 2.6%.

Pershing Square Holdings, Severn Trent, Associated British Foods, BAE Systems, Phoenix Group Holdings, SSE, WPP, Airtel Africa and Endeavour Mining are also notably higher.

Among the losers, JD Sports Fashion is down 2% and Marks & Spencer is declining by about 1.1%. Prudential, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Ashtead Group and BP are down 0.7 to 1%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK's real gross domestic product showed no growth in July, after rising 0.4% in June. The dominant services sector expanded 0.1% and construction grew 0.2%. Meanwhile, industrial production fell 0.9%.

On a yearly basis, GDP was up 1.4% in July, slightly slower than the economists' forecast of 1.5%.

In the three months to July, real GDP advanced 0.2%, following a 0.3% rise in the three months to June.

Another report from the ONS showed that the visible trade deficit remained broadly unchanged in July. The trade gap totaled GBP 23.68 billion compared to GBP 23.65 billion in June.

At the same time, the surplus on services dropped to GBP 15.28 billion from GBP 15.42 billion in the previous month. As a result, the total trade balance posted a deficit of GBP 8.4 billion versus a GBP 8.23 billion shortfall a month ago.