The FTSE 100 closed strongly on Thursday, was up 20.84 or 0.29% at 7,234.81, helped by mining stocks which took their cue from the higher prices of metals.
The more UK company focused FTSE 250 was also up, closing up 126.38 points at 19,574.76. Elsewhere, in Europe, the German DAX added 0.1%, while the CAC 40 gained 1.1%.
Stocks with operations in South Africa, including Old Mutual PLC, Evraz PLC, Anglo American and Mondi Plc, jumped as the departure of Zuma was seen to end political uncertainty and pave the way for an economic recovery in the country.
Old Mutual, which closed up 3.05%, or 7.30p at 246.70p. also received a boost after Renaissance Capital raised its rating on the stock to 'buy'.
The company also stands to benefit from the fact that Lloyds is looking for a new partner to manage the ?109bn in funds it pulled from Standard Life Aberdeen.
Standard Life Aberdeen PLC (LON:SL.) dropped 7.53% to close at 360.00p on news that Lloyds has dropped the investment management arrangement with the company.
Evraz gained 2.18% to close at 383.50p while Anglo American rose 1.93% to close at 1,726p and Mondi gained 2.74% at 1,840.50.
Ahead of the closing bell, the FTSE is barely holding onto gains, rising 4 points to 7,217.
The pull-back is likely related to the strength of the pound against the dollar, according to Spreadex financial analyst, Connor Campbell.
"Cable rose above $1.406 following a 0.6% increase, taking sterling to its best price in 10 days," he noted.
Mondi and Old Mutual are still the biggest risers while Standard Life remains the top faller.
Across the pond, US stocks are still higher as investors sift through mixed economic data.
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has set to remove cheeseburgers and chocolate milk from its Happy Meal menu as part of a fresh health drive.
The fast-food giant said diners will still be able to ask for cheeseburgers or chocolate milk but hopes that by not listing them it will encourage children to select healthier options.
Bottled water will replace chocolate milk on menus while portions of fries will be halved in six-piece chicken McNugget Mighty Meals for older children.
The company has made tweaks to the Happy Meal over the years after health advocates and parents linked it to childhood obesity. Past changes have included cutting the size of its fries and adding fruit as well as swapping apple juice for one with less sugar.
The latest tweak has attracted backlash from Twitter users:
Gone is the Happy Meal, it's now just a sodium deficient cheeseless void.
- Lord Madbadger of Armchair (Ret'd) (@Madbadger35) 15 February 2018So, what's your telling me, is that it's a "sad meal" now? https://t.co/YfRHDz5eVB
- Jacob Deaton (@jakeUKFAD) 15 February 2018My daughter had a happy meal before and is a Health and Nutrition College Graduate. My son is skinnier than me. It's about parenting the whole child....
and having balance. People need to stop making excuses and blaming businesses for their own problems.
US equities rose and the 10-year Treasury yield was at a four-year high at the open following gains in the previous session but this situation is unstable and something must give, according to one analyst.
David Morrison, senior market analyst at GKFX, said there is at least one major contradiction in the market reaction to yesterday's inflation figures.
"Equities are rallying as deflation fears have effectively evaporated," he said.
"At the same time, investors seem convinced that the pick-up in inflation is tame and controlled. On the surface this would appear a perfect environment to be invested in stocks, particularly given the fiscal stimulus coming through in the form of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and regulatory reform."
However, bonds are selling on fears that the pick-up in inflation is not so benign, Morrison said.
He added that the Fed may be behind the curve and so forced to hike rates more aggressively than previously forecast.
"Of course, even if there's four 25 basis point hikes this year rather than three that will still leave the fed funds rate below 2.5% - historically very low."
US stocks have opened higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 210 points to 25,099.
The Nasdaq is up 50 points to 7,190 and the S&P 500 has added 15 points to 2,713.
Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a top riser on the Dow after reporting second quarter earnings that beat expectations and returning to revenue growth for the first time in more than a year and a half.
Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) surged on the Nasdaq after the online travel company reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates.
Avon Products Inc (NYSE:AVP) gained as the beauty products company reported adjusted quarterly earnings that surpassed forecasts.
US industrial and manufacturing production data have fallen short of expectations, the Federal Reserve has revealed.
Industrial output fell 0.1% in January, missing forecasts for a 0.2% rise, while manufacturing production was flat last month against estimates for a 0.3% gain.
The Fed revised its estimates for December industrial and manufacturing output lower to a 0.4% rise and an unchanged reading, respectively
US stock futures are pointing to a higher open after the market closed in the green yesterday despite concerns about inflation and weak retail sales data.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 253 points to 24,893, the S&P 500 futures added 25 points to 2,698 and the Nasdaq jumped 130 points to 7,143.
US stocks finished up yesterday as traders shrugged off data, which showed US inflation remained stubbornly high and retail sales unexpectedly fell in January.
On today's agenda, the Labor Department has revealed initial jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 230,000 in the week ended 10 February. Economists had expected claims to reach 228,000 while claims for the previous week were revised up by 2,000 to 223,000.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said US wholesale prices rose more than expected in January. The core producer price index, which excludes food and energy, edged up 0.4% following a 0.1% drop in December and beating forecasts for a 0.2% gain.
Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has taken over from Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the third-largest US company by market value for the first time.
The e-commerce giant reached a record close of US$1,451 on Wednsday, raising its market capitalisation by US$17.69bn to US$702.46bn.
In comparison, Microsoft's market cap stood at US4699.22bn after shares ended the session 1.6% higher.
Amazon's shares have been rising since it reported better-than-expected quarterly results, announced plans to team up with JP Morgan Chase & Co and Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathawy Inc on improving employee health care and to start offering a free two-hour delivery of Whole Foods grocery.
Ahead of the opening bell, shares are up a further 0.7% to US$1461.3 each.
The FTSE 100 rose 41 points to 7,255 in lunchtime trading as news that South Africa President Jacob Zuma resigned lifted stocks with operations in the country.
London's top tier index is higher despite the pound rising 0.41% versus the dollar to US$1.4057 - its strongest level in two weeks. Cable was supported by a weaker greenback after disappointing US inflation and retail sales data yesterday.
Stocks with operations in South Africa, including Old Mutual, Evraz, Anglo American and Mondi, jumped as the departure of Zuma was seen to end political uncertainty and pave the way for an economic recovery in the country.
Old Mutual also received a boost after Renaissance Capital raised its rating on the stock to 'buy'.
The company also stands to benefit from the fact that Lloyds is looking for a new partner to manage the ?109bn in funds it pulled from Standard Life Aberdeen.
Standard Life Aberdeen is the biggest faller on the news it has been dumped by Lloyds.
Ex-dividend stocks AstraZeneca, Royal Dutch Shell and Unilever are on the back foot.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) need to do more to address concerns over their liability and how users are informed about content removal or contract terminations, Europe's justice commissioner has told the tech giants.
The European Union executive and consumer protection authorities said proposals submitted by the companies were considered insufficient.
The EU said they need do more to bring their user terms in line with EU law.
Bitcoin is approaching US$10,000 per coin for the first time in just over two weeks.
The cryptocurrency rose 3% to US$9,762 at the time of writing, recovery from recent declines amid concerns about tighter regulation across the globe.
However, it remains well off its all-time highs over more than US$19,000 reached before Christmas.
"A break back above an important psychological hurdle - a level that only a few weeks ago was regarded as an important support zone - may signal an end to the sell-off in bitcoin, among others, and begin another more promising climb higher," said Oanda's Craig Erlam.
"I would be surprised if the move higher is as aggressive as last time as there isn't the same euphoria this time around and many speculators will have been burned on the way down, but it could be more healthy if, of course, it happens.
"Alternatively, this level could mark the peak in another corrective move in bitcoin and trigger more selling, piling more pressure on the cryptocurrency space. Whether this happens or not may depend on whether we can see a period of light negative news flow, with January producing a constant stream of it which weighed heavily on cryptocurrencies."
A surprise fall in US retail sales and worries about high inflation have put pressure on the dollar today.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of its peers, sank 1.5% from its peak on Wednesday.
Miles Eakers, chief market analyst at Centtrip, said price rises in the US mean the Federal Reserve is likely to tighten monetary policy "sooner and faster".
He said the dollar faces a further slide if any Fed tightening is offset by a wider US deficit on the back of Donald Trump's big spending plans and tax cuts.
"As rates rise, this will put a further burden on the debt interest paid. This drop in the US dollar could be a sign of a lack of confidence in the US, which is even more worrying."
South African stocks surged after President Jacob Zuma resigned, with the benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All Shares index rising as much as 2.7% - the biggest gain since June 2016.
Shares in South Africa banks, including Standard Bank Group Ltd., FirstRand Ltd. and Nedbank Group, are higher on optimism his likely successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, will improve the economy.
On the FTSE 100, Evraz plc (LON:EVR), Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL), Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) and Mondi Group PLC (LON:MNDI) are top risers as they have operations in South Africa.
Since Zuma took office in 2009, economic growth in South African has averaged just 1.6% a year, in part due to a series of policy mistakes and inappropriate appointments that hurt business confidence.
Laura Ashley Holdings plc (LON:ALY) has warned on profits following sluggish Christmas sales, sending shares down more than 9% to 5.5p.
The home furnishings retailer reported a 0.5% drop in like-for-like sales for the 26 weeks to December 31 and pre-tax profit halved to ?4.3mln.
The group blamed "challenging" trading conditions for the decline in sales and a slump in the pound for the lower profit.
"The board have reviewed the first half results and forecasts for the remainder of the year to 30th June 2018 and, given the continued market challenges, considers that net pre-tax profit for the year will fall below market expectations," said chairman Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Peng.
The FTSE 100 opened in positive territory, tracking gains in the US and Asia as investors shrugged off disappointing US inflation and retail sales data.
Around 8.20am the London index rose 34 points to 7,249.
US inflation held at 2.1% in January, surprising analysts who had expected it to ease back to 1.9% and raising bets the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in March. US retail sales fell 0.3% in January against forecasts for a 0.2% rise while December's data was revised lower.
"While yesterday's inflation numbers make a Fed rate rise in March more or less a done deal the prospect of additional rate rises later on in the year don't appear to be causing the same consternation in equity markets that they were a week ago, as US markets closed higher for the fourth day in succession, despite initially opening lower in the wake of the release of the data," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
"This is despite Cleveland Fed economists projecting that core CPI could rise to 2.8%, with headline prices rising to 3.4% in this first quarter. One concern around yesterday's numbers was the disappointing retail sales numbers for January which missed expectations but which also saw the December numbers revised down. "
Turning to today's economic calendar, Eurozone trade data will be released along with a string of US reports including initial jobless claims and manufacturing figures.
In company news, Standard Life Aberdeen PLC (LON:SLA) shares fell after Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) decided to pull ?109bn in funds from the asset manager.
Sector peers Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LON:SMT) gained on the news as Lloyds said it was searching for a new partner to manage the assets.
AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) ticked higher even as it went ex-dividend after the US Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation for Selumetinib, a drug used to treat incurable genetic condition Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
Other ex-dividend stocks in focus include BP PLC (LON:BP), Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) (LON:RDSB) and Unilever plc (LON:ULVR).
Mining shares, including BHP Billiton plc (LON:BHP), Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) and Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO), rose on higher commodity prices.
ConvaTec Group PLC (LON:CTEC) rallied as it reported better-than-expected full year organic revenue growth and said it expects revenues to rise further in 2018.
Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP) has agreed another collaborative development for its Moditope anti-cancer platform. Dutch group ISA Pharmaceutical will incorporate its Amplivant technology into Modi-1, the first cancer treatment candidate being developed on the platform.
Mosman Oil And Gas Limited (LON:MSMN) has raised ?500,000 of working capital through the issue of new shares in a placing. The junior oil firm is issuing a total of 45.45mln new shares at a price of 1.1p. According to Mosman, the funds will be put towards its evaluation of new acquisition opportunities and general purposes.
InnovaDerma (LON:IDP) saw its top-line grow strongly in the first half of the current financial year and the beauty and personal care products developer expects further strong growth in the second half.
Regenerative medtech Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS) is to go it alone in China after ending its joint venture with distributor Cre8ive. Through the JV, Collagen had agreed import licences for its tissue material, established a pipeline of potential customers and signed two agreements, but having full control from now on would mean more flexibility.
UK healthcare firm Concepta PLC (LON:CPT) has signed a marketing agreement with Chinese Wei Yi Bei Lian Information Technology Co. Ltd (BB Link) which provides free WiFi in 1,500 maternity hospitals across China. When patients connect to BB Link's free WiFi service, Concepta's landing page will be displayed with an overview of its myLotus fertility product.
NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI), the transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation group, said today that its portfolio company, ProAxsis, had conducted its first sale of NEATstik (R), the company's point-of-care test for measuring neutrophil elastase. The NEATstik (R) test, registered with a CE mark in the second half of 2017, was sold to a research laboratory conducting a respiratory clinical trial for a pharmaceutical company.
Stratex International plc (LON:STI) has teamed up with TET Madencilik to advance the Hasan??elebi and Do??ala gold projects in Turkey. The deal with TET, a private Turkish company, sees Stratex receive US$50,000 in cash and commits the new partner to spending US$1.5mln on exploration and drilling within a two-year period.
ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM), specialist drug discovery and development company, announced that its chairman Tim McCarthy will be presenting at an investor evening hosted by Turner Pope Investments, which acted as agent in the firm's recent ?10mln fundraise. The group said the event will be held on Monday 26 February 2018 in London, EC2 and will commence at 6pm.
RM Secured Direct Lending PLC (LON:RMDL) announced that, as at 14 February 2018, it has deployed ?25.05mmln of the proceeds of its C Share fundraising from October 2017, representing approximately 85.2% of the net proceeds of the share issue. The investment trust specialising in secured debt investments also declared an interim dividend of 2.0p per ordinary share in respect of the period from 1 October 2017 to 31 December 2017:
APQ Global Limited (LON:APQ), the AIM-listed emerging markets growth company announces that as at the close of business on 31 January 2018, the unaudited book value per ordinary share was 135.58 US cents.
London's FTSE 100 is seen starting Thursday higher as global equities continue to benefit from supportive sentiments.
Spead betting firm London Capital Group (LCG) is calling the FTSE 100 to open just over 35 points higher at around 7,250.
Wall Street benchmarks recovered over the course of yesterday's session, to mark a strong close despite an initially downbeat start.
The Dow Jones gained a little over 250 points or 1% to finish the day at 24,893. The S&P 500, meanwhile, added 1.34% to close at 2,698 and the Nasdaq climbed 1.86% to 7,143.
Jasper Lawler, market analyst at LCG highlighted that Wednesday saw 'mixed' economic data in the United States and as Europe has few steers to offer today, many investors will again be looking stateside as today's session progresses.
"With no high impacting data expected from the eurozone or the UK this morning, US numbers in the afternoon could once again take centre stage. Jobless claims, industrial production and manufacturing numbers will attract the market's attention, although no doubt to a lesser extent than yesterday's closely watched releases," he said in a note.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was up 310 points or 1.47% trading at 21,464, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced by 1.97% to 31,115 and the Shanghai Composite moved up 0.45% to 3,199. Australia's ASX 200 added 1.16% to trade at 5,909.
Finals: RELX PLC (LON:REL), ConvaTec PLC (LON:CTEC), Indivior PLC (LON:INDV), Lancashire Holdings PLC (LON:LRE), Primary Health Properties PLC (LON:PHP)
Interims: InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP)
Trading update: Aveva Group PLC (LON:AVV)
Ex-dividends: To knock 24.4 points off FTSE 100: AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), BP PLC (LON:BP.), Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) (LON:RDSB), Unilever plc (LON:ULVR)
Economic data: EU preliminary GDP; US weekly jobless; US industrial production; US forward PPI; Philly Fed business outlook; Empire State manufacturing survey