Strong B&Q earnings rebuild investors’ risk appetite to kick off week

Investors picked up their risk appetite again during the opening trading day of the week as B&Q owner Kingfisher helped mend market sentiment.

London’s premier FTSE 100 index jumped 1.67 per cent to 7,513.44 points, while the mid-cap domestically-focused FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, climbed 1.56 per cent to 20,146.18 points.

Global markets have been through a bruising time recently. 

Wall Street last week briefly tipped into bear market territory, while the Dow Jones, one of the US’s most closely watched indexes, notched its eighth straight week of losses for the first time since the 1930s.

London-listed shares have fared better than their US counterparts partly because the City houses a large number of so-called “old economy” stocks – companies that rely on legacy production processes to generate output.

A bumper crop of results posted by B&Q parent group Kingfisher yesterday helped ease concerns that historically high inflation is squeezing quoted companies’ margins.

“Sales momentum from the pandemic DIY boom seems to be following through and inflation is not proving as big a headache as it is for some retailers,” Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said.

The parent group notched revenues of a shade over £3bn in the first three months of the year and projected pre-tax profit guidance to come in around £770m for the year.

Those positive numbers sent its shares up 2.39 per cent. Royal Mail topped the FTSE 100, advancing 5.26 per cent.

Greetings card retailer and FTSE 250-listed Moonpig notched the second biggest leap on the mid-cap index, shooting up over 11 per cent after it announced a tie up with gift experience firm Buyagift.