London - Britain's top-share index edged up on Wednesday, buoyed by well-received results from Ashtead and a rise in pharmaceutical stocks, to recoup a small part of the previous session's fall.
The FTSE 100 was up 19.10 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,077.64 by 07h52 GMT, after falling 3 percent in the previous session following weak manufacturing purchasing managers' data from China.
Concern over the strength of Chinese growth also pegged back Wall Street on Tuesday, while Asian stocks fell for a third straight session on Wednesday. However, the FTSE 100 was boosted by a rally in China-sensitive miners as the price of copper stabilised.
“Even the China-exposed names such as miners we think have fallen too far. Much of the negative news is priced in as the PMI data was not a surprise and we were expecting a weak print,” said Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers.
The top riser was industrial equipment hire group Ashtead, up 5 percent after posting a first-quarter profit rise and saying it was on track to achieve its full-year expectations and confident about the medium-term outlook.
The result contrasted with the fortunes of rivals such as United Rentals and Speedy Hire, which have downgraded full-year forecasts, last month helping to send Ashtead to its lowest level in over a year.
“Progress in the quarter is thanks to strong execution and a strategy of geographical and sector diversification ... as well as a seasonal improvement in demand following a weather-impacted spring,” Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, said in a note.
Pharmaceutical firms Hikma and AstraZeneca were also among top risers, up 4.4 percent and 1.7 percent, benefiting from upgrades by Barclays and HSBC respectively.
HSBC said that weakness in AstraZeneca, caused by global market volatility in August, could provide a buying opportunity, and that clinical data from new drugs due by the end of the year could support the stock.
AstraZeneca is down 7.5 percent since mid-August.
“We don't think this is warranted given the strong pipeline and forward-looking guidance we expect,” Guardian Stockbrokers' Latif said.
Among mid-caps, the car parts to bikes retailer Halfords fell 7.5 percent despite saying it would meet profit forecasts after a recent boom in bicycle sales fell off sharply in its second quarter.
British online fashion retailer ASOS fell 2 percent after its founder, Nick Robertson, stepped down as chief executive after 15 years in which he transformed the internet minnow into a retail powerhouse with fans around the world.
REUTERS