London stock market increases on strong corporate earnings as it defies poor economic data

The FTSE climbed in Friday afternoon (22 July 2016) trading, lifted by strong earnings from market heavyweight Vodafone despite the release of poor post-Brexit economic data. The mobile phone giant posted a first-quarter 2.2% rise in organic service revenue compared with a year ago, beating City forecasts. Shares jumped 10.3p to 235.4p.

The FTSE 100 Index lifted by 25.8 points to 6725.7, as the telecoms firm reported an increase in its key measure of growth for eight consecutive quarters. The FTSE 250 Index fell by 48.5 points to 16998.9.

A special edition of the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' survey showed that manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 47.7 in July from 52.4 in June in the run-up to and immediately after the EU referendum vote. A reading below 50 indicates activity is contracting. This is the lowest reading since spring 2009.

Spreadex financial analyst Connor Campbell said: "Combined the figures suggest that the UK economy is contracting at a quarterly rate of 0.4%, severely undermining the quiet sense of acceptance that has appeared in the month since the referendum results were announced."

The afternoon trading the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were Vodafone (+10.3p to 235.4p), CRH (+78p to 2273p), Hikma Pharmaceuticals (+55p to 2577p), AstraZeneca (+71.5p to 4595p) and Centrica (+3.5p to 241.5p).

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were Berkeley Group (-87p to 2610p), Marks & Spencer (-9.8p to 318.7p), Travis Perkins (-40p to 1511p), EasyJet (-27p to 1040p) and Persimmon (-39p to 1594p).

The afternoon trading the biggest risers on the FTSE 250 Index were Acacia Mining (+36.5p to 557.5p), Vedanta Resources (+22p to 542p), Home Retail Group (+5.4p to 154.7p), Hochschild Mining (+7.8p to 229.2p) and Allied Minds (+12.7p to 373.3p).

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were Vesuvius (-20.8 to 340.1p), Countrywide (-11.9p to 240.8p), Redrow (-15.2p to 316.1p), Shawbrook Group (-7.9p to 165.7p) and OneSavings Bank (-9p to 201.6p).