High Street favorite Marks and Spencer rose after HSBC encouraged its customers to buy shares again.
The bank said the recovery progress M&S is making is “too good to ignore” as its popularity and appeal grows.
M&S, which last year returned to the FTSE 100 for the first time since 2019, has reported two years of sales growth across its food and clothing and home divisions.
Analysts at the bank said “this move is more sustainable than previous attempts” and could pave the way for shareholder returns.
HSBC expects lower interest rates, rising wages and a recovery in consumer confidence to spur customer spending, lifting M&S by 1.9 per cent, or 5.7p, to 302.3p.
Change: M&S, which last year returned to the FTSE 100 for the first time since 2019, has reported two years of sales growth in its food and clothing and home divisions.
Wealth manager St James’s Place made profits following positive brokers’ notes.
Peel Hunt decided it was time to start covering the stock once again and issued a “buy” rating, while Bank of America upgraded its outlook.
SJP will officially be kicked out of the FTSE 100, for the first time since March 2014, and move to the mid-cap index on June 24, but gained 4.9 per cent, or 25p, to 533p.
In the broader market, the FTSE 100 rose 0.8 per cent, or 67.67 points, to 8,215.48 and the FTSE 250 rose 1.1 per cent, or 230.55 points, to 20,497.40.
Technology investor Molten Ventures said the value of companies it invests in, including financial app Revolut and Aircall, a French cloud-based customer communications and telephony platform, was slightly higher than expected.
The gross value of its portfolio rose slightly to £1.38bn in the 12 months to 31 March. The stock rose 19.1 per cent, or 64.5p, to 401.5p.
Stock Market Surveillance – HSS
Tool and equipment rental group HSS slumped 13.6 per cent, or 1.14p, to a record low of 7.26p after infrastructure company Amey switched suppliers.
The deal with Amey accounted for about 7 percent of revenue and a tenth of its adjusted profit in 2023, HSS said. The two companies had an agreement for almost nine years and it was due to end this year.
The announcement raises questions about how HSS will cover the revenue shortfall once the contract ends.
RWS shares soared 21.3 per cent, or 35.6p, to 203p after the language services company returned to growth across half of its divisions and pinned its hopes on cashing in on increased demand. of artificial intelligence (AI) of customers.
The company, whose chat tool has helped translate documents between a joint US and South Korean military division, added that trade has been “encouraging” so far in the second half.
Equals Group has extended the offer period for a consortium interested in it from yesterday until July 10. The shares fell 7.4 per cent, or 9p, to 112.5p.
Safestore, which owns almost 200 stores in the UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, said sales fell slightly to £107m in the first half to the end of April.
In the UK, revenue fell 1.5 per cent to £78.6 million and the shares sank 4.2 per cent, or 34.5 pence, to 793.5 pence.
Scancell signed a seven-month exclusivity deal with an unnamed global biotech company to evaluate a potential antibody generated by the AIM-listed company’s platform, and rose 3.7 per cent, or 0.35 pence, to 9.75.
And Tungsten West has been granted the final permission it needs to pave the way and raise new capital to get its Hemerdon mine in Devon back to production in 2026.
The update came a week after Neil Gawthorpe resigned as chief executive.
The shares rose 38.4 per cent, or 1.63 pence, to 5.88 pence.
