FTSE 100 live: London index pulls further away from record 8,000 point threshold as British Gas owner surges

London’s FTSE 100 scaled further above the 8,000 point mark today driven by investors piling into British Gas owner Centrica after it posted record profits of more than £3bn last year.

The capital’s premier index jumped 0.32 per cent to 8,023.53 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, rose 0.28 per cent to 20,228.75 points.

Centrica pumped to the top of the index after it released results this morning revealing it has joined the energy giants’ profits party, which has been fuelled by oil and gas prices accelerating after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Its shares climbed more than four per cent, lifting the FTSE 100 higher with it.

Yesterday the premier index topped the 8,000 mark for the first time ever. It has surged in the first two months of 2023, routinely notching new record highs, mainly due to its heavy exposure to big industrial companies.

Traders are also becoming more optimistic about the UK economy’s prospects this year due inflation falling quicker than expected and demand holding up better than first feared.

FTSE 100 has surged in 2023

“The dominant theme now seems to be that ‘better times are coming,’ especially after the share price crushings handed out to a lot of cyclicals and consumer discretionary names in the first half of 2022 may have left them looking cheap, while the index’s exposure to miners and oils may also give the FTSE 100 appeal as a potential inflation hedge for good measure,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.

The pound strengthened 0.12 per cent against the US dollar, while yields on the benchmark 10-year gilt edged lower. Prices and yields move inversely.

High street bank Barclays continued to slide after it finished bottom of the FTSE 100 yesterday due to its posting worse than expected profits.

Shell and BP were also lower.

Retailers propped up the mid-cap FTSE 250, with online fashion giant ASOS up 2.41 per cent, while Dr Martens advanced nearly two per cent.