FTSE 100 Rises Nearly 1% On Soft Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - The U.K. market is up in positive territory on Wednesday, outperforming other major markets in Europe, thanks to softer-than-expected consumer price inflation data.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 84.06 points or 0.89% at 9,511.05 a few minutes past noon.

Barclays Group shares are up 4.4%. The lender announced a surprise 500-million-pound ($670 million) share buyback and upgraded its performance target for the year.

Entain is gaining 3.5% and Howden Joinery Group is rising nearly 3%.

Persimmon, Phoenix Group Holdings, Segro, Natweat Group, Berkeley Group Holdings, Kingfisher, DCC, Pershing Square Holdings, Rio Tinto, St. James's Place and United Utilities are up 2 to 2.8%.

Coca-Cola HBC and Burberry Group are down 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively. Airtel Africa, BT Group, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pearson and Bunzl are down 0.5 to 1%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed consumer prices in UK rose 3.8% year-on-year in September, the same rate of growth as seen in August. Prices were expected to climb 4%.

Meanwhile, core inflation eased marginally to 3.5% from 3.6% in August.

On a monthly basis, overall consumer prices and core consumer prices remained flat in September.

Another report from the ONS showed that input prices dropped unexpectedly by 0.1% in September, while the expected rate was +0.3%. Similarly, output prices remained flat compared to the forecast of 0.2% rise.

Year-on-year, input prices gained 0.8% and output prices moved up 3.4% in September.