London stocks advance on banking, travel boost, Sage Group jumps

British equities rose on Wednesday, driven by banking and travel stocks as overnight gains on Wall Street lifted risk sentiment while software company Sage jumped following a brokerage upgrade.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 advanced 0.3%, while the domestically focussed FTSE 250 midcap index added 0.4%

Sage Group (LON:SGE) climbed 4%, hitting a more than 23-year high after JP Morgan upgraded the company’s rating to “overweight” from “neutral.”

Upbeat U.S. economic data helped ease worries of an imminent recession in the world’s largest economy, pushing the S&P 500 index more than 1% higher on Tuesday. [.N]

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will be taking part in the European Central Bank’s panel discussion in Sintra, Portugal with ECB President Christine Lagarde, the Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda.

“We’re getting to a situation where inflation is close to getting ingrained and becoming a big issue for the country,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

“The comments from central banks are going to be key this week.”

Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) Holdings, easyJet (LON:EZJ), and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) S.A. rose 0.9-2.8% after RBC initiated coverage on the carriers with a “sector perform” rating.

The broader travel and leisure sector advanced 0.9%.

UK banks gained 0.6%, while precious metal miners dipped 0.8% as gold prices slipped. [GOL/]

The FTSE 100 is on track to post a quarterly decline following two straight quarters of gains, pressured by stubborn inflation and high interest rates.

Among other individual stocks, Revolution Beauty jumped nearly 58% as the exchange lifted a suspension on trading the company’s stock after the beauty products retailer re-appointed CEO Bob Holt to the board..

Vodafone (LON:VOD) added 1.1% after traders said that Exane upgraded the telecommunications company’s rating to “neutral.”

Irish stocks also had a great start to the day, with the benchmark stock index up 0.9%.