London close: FTSE hits 22-month as Omicron worries fade

London stocks ended firmly in the black on Wednesday, having hit their highest level since February 2020 amid hopes that Omicron will be less severe than previous Covid variants.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.7% at 7,420.69.

IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Despite patchy Covid data, we have seen a clear spike in cases on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to the Omicron variant. With France reporting over 200k daily cases and the US topping 500k, the rampant spread of this variant looks unstoppable.

"Nonetheless, while we have seen travel stocks such as IAG and Carnival under pressure given the risk to demand, there should be room for tentative optimism given how Omicron appears to be replacing Delta. While heightening the chance of short-term restrictions, the rapid spread, mild outcomes, and apparent ability to replace the deadlier Delta variant means Omicron could in fact bring a swifter return to normality."

In equity markets, AstraZeneca gained after saying that it and California-based Ionis Pharmaceutical had closed a global development and commercialisation agreement for eplontersen, a medicine used in the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis.

Fresnillo was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 after it said mill commissioning at its Juanicipio joint venture in Mexico had been delayed by six months as the state electricity company said it could not give the go-ahead for connection to the national power grid due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anglo American was also in focus after it and Brazil’s Vale started preliminary talks on the potential to jointly develop Vale's Serpentina iron ore resource. The deposit neighbours Anglo American's integrated Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil.

British Airways owner IAG, Premier Inn owner Whitbread, GKN owner Melrose, travel company Tui, and cruise operator Carnival all fell.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,420.69 0.66%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,517.27 1.06%
techMARK (TASX) 4,576.94 0.59%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 16,255.00p 3.50%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,244.00p 3.24%
Royal Mail (RMG) 521.60p 2.88%
Kingfisher (KGF) 351.90p 2.74%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 5,210.00p 2.66%
Experian (EXPN) 3,667.00p 2.66%
Halma (HLMA) 3,210.00p 2.16%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,891.00p 2.12%
Next (NXT) 8,110.00p 2.09%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,890.00p 2.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 872.00p -2.35%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 143.38p -2.22%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,325.50p -1.71%
Entain (ENT) 1,659.50p -1.45%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,968.00p -1.03%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,629.40p -0.89%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 157.20p -0.79%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,630.00p -0.78%
Pearson (PSON) 599.60p -0.70%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,340.00p -0.57%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 325.00p 8.33%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 1,016.00p 4.42%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 663.00p 4.00%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 544.50p 3.91%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,812.00p 3.66%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,500.00p 3.59%
Investec (INVP) 410.40p 3.58%
Mitie Group (MTO) 64.20p 3.38%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 770.50p 3.35%
Beazley (BEZ) 462.00p 3.26%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 232.70p -5.98%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 19.13p -4.83%
Carnival (CCL) 1,395.40p -4.58%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 128.80p -3.16%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 281.00p -2.94%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 234.00p -2.90%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 288.30p -2.70%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 355.20p -2.58%
BB Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 197.80p -2.32%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 300.00p -2.28%