UK Market Slightly Up, Ashtead Climbs After Results

(RTTNews) - The UK market advanced fractionally on Wednesday afternoon, even as global growth worries continued. The sentiment was partly due to bargain-hunting, following steep losses in the previous session after China's faltering demand bruised metal and mining stocks.

On a light day for economic news, Eurozone's producer prices declined at a stable rate in July, in line with expectations, Eurostat said. The producer price index fell 2.1 percent year-over-year in July, the same rate of decrease as in the previous month.

British construction activity growth improved less-than-expected in August, survey results from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and Markit Economics revealed.

The seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 57.3 from 57.1 in July. Economists had forecast a score of 57.5.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks added 0.28 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was unchanged.

The FTSE 100 index added marginally.

Ashtead group climbed 5.6 percent, after reporting first-quarter results.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals added 3.6 percent and 3i group climbed 3.1 percent.

Ryanair gained more than 2 percent after reporting growth in traffic and load factor for August.

Antofagasta and BHP Billiton gained 3.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Glencore dropped 2.6 percent.

Other major markets in the region also rose.

Across Asia/Pacific, markets steadied as Chinese stocks rebounded from an earlier sharp sell-off and futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rebounded after a bruising sell-off in global stocks the previous day.

In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages lost about 3 percent each to post their third-worst drop this year, as signs of further weakness in China reignited investors' concerns about the global economy.

In the commodity space, crude for October delivery fell $1.04 to $44.37 per barrel, while December gold advanced $0.5 to $1140.3 a troy ounce.