London stocks logged gains on Thursday as investors cheered the possibility of a December cut in US interest rates following the October inflation report. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.51% higher on Thursday. "Admittedly, the report wasn't actually that good compared with some recent months, as monthly headline CPI was the fastest in six months, and core CPI was still a bit faster than the Fed would ideally like," said Deutsche Bank Research.
"This helped to reassure investors that the Fed was still on a path towards at least a cut in December." Back in the UK, preliminary gross domestic product figures for the third quarter are due for release tomorrow. Analysts estimate Britain's quarterly economic growth at 0.2% in the third quarter, compared with the 0.5% increase in the prior three-month period.
In corporate news, Aviva logged higher premiums for its general insurance segment for the first nine months of 2024 at 9.12 billion pounds sterling amid double-digit growth in personal lines. The British insurer's stock rose 4.55% in closing trade as it confirmed its target of 2 billion pounds in operating profit by 2026.
"We remain confident on the outlook," said RBC Capital Markets. "Aviva's operating profit growth target implies 11% pa growth, and supports DPS growth of MSD pa -- this is the highest in our UK life coverage (excluding JUST). In addition, Aviva's ambition for higher growth in 'capital-light' areas should reduce the cost of equity over time, with the strategy having potential to be accelerated with further bolt-ons." Spirax Group affirmed its outlook for mid-single-digit growth in organic revenue in full-year 2024 after group organic sales for the 10 months ended Oct.
31 grew year over year in all three divisions, excluding currency effects. The thermal energy and fluid technology group's shares ended 4.71% in the green..