(Reuters) -London’s blue-chip stock index edged higher on Thursday, buoyed by upbeat corporate earnings and economic data that bolstered bets of more rate cuts from the Bank of England.
The benchmark FTSE 100 closed up 0.13%, while the domestically focused FTSE 250 slipped 0.2%.
Unilever gained 2.9% after the consumer goods giant beat third-quarter underlying sales estimates, while Barclays rose 4.1% after the British bank reported a forecast-beating 18% rise in third-quarter profit.
A 2.9% jump in Anglo American lifted the industrial metal miners’ sector after the global miner maintained its copper and diamond production forecasts.
Optimism among British firms has sunk in October, according to two surveys published on Thursday, six days before finance minister Rachel Reeves tries to chart a way between raising taxes and boosting growth in the new government’s first budget.
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