Bumper results ease Russia-Ukraine fears in the City

London’s top indexes were muddled yesterday despite some of the City’s largest companies reporting bumper results, boosting investor sentiment.

The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index edged 0.05 per cent higher to 7,498.18 points, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, lost 0.72 per cent to drop to 20,841.52 points.

A string of positive results published by some of the capital’s top firms helped ease concerns about the fallout of further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Miner Rio Tinto announced record annual profits, leading it to launch a £12.4bn final dividend, the second-highest ever by a FTSE 100 listed company.

However, analysts questioned whether the mining giant could keep up this pace of shareholder distributions, sending its share price 2.16 per cent lower yesterday.

“The big question now is whether Rio’s dividends and earnings have peaked in the current commodities cycle,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.

“There are plenty of headwinds to suggest global economic growth may slow and forecasts would suggest Rio’s dividends are going to get progressively smaller over the next three years,” he added. 

British bank Barclays registered a doubling in profits, although it froze ex-boss Jes Staley’s bonus until the Jeffrey Epstein dispute is resolved.

Its shares finished up 3.06 per cent.

On the FTSE 250, airlines were among the worst performers, with Wizz Air and easyJet both down more than 3.35 per cent.

The pound weakened 0.25 per cent against the dollar to buy $1.3547.