FTSE 100 holds on to gains and shrugs off mixed performance from Wall Street

• FTSE 100 closes up
• Dow climbs but S&P and Nasdaq lower
• BT benefits from Budget

5.05pm: FTSE closes higher

FTSE 100 closed higher midweek as UK stocks were boosted by the Spring budget delivered by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.

The index closed the day up around 61 points, or 0.93%, at 6,675. The more UK – company focused FTSE 250 was  in even better fettle, rising over 258 points, or 1.33% to 21,436.

Housebuilders were atop the Footsie leader board, unsurprisingly, as Sunka confirmed the stamp duty on property purchases up to £500,000 will be extended until June this year.

Barratt Develioments plc () advanced over 7% to 732.6p, while () gained 6.83% at 2,895p.

“The Conservative party is still determined to support the economy and help steer it through these difficult times,” noted David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.

“The hospitality sector has been given a boost as the reduced VAT rate, 5%, will remain for another six months. Whitbread, Marston’s and shares are all up this afternoon. The planned increases in tax on beer and spirits has been pushed back too,” he added.

The OBS predicts UK GDP growth of 4% this year in the UK, down from 5%, but the 2022 forecast was lifted to 7.3% from 6.6%. 

4.05pm: Leading shares remain positive

Leading shares are edging back from their worst levels, supported by those companies likely to benefit from the Budget measures and shrugging off a mixed performance from Wall Street.

The FTSE 100 is currently up 34.41 points or 0.52% at 6648.16, while the FTSE 250 is outperforming the blue chip index, climbing 194.4 points or 0.92% to 21,372.31. The second tier index has been helped by a boost to Micro Focus International PLC (LON.MCRO), up 57.9p or 13.2% to 496.5p after the software group announced an agreement with Amazon’s web services arm.

Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK said: “The FTSE 250 looks set to close at a one year high, as investors pile back into to an index that has underperformed markedly over the past 12 months.”

Back with the leading index, and BT Group PLC (LON.BT.A)  is top of the pile, boosted by the Chancellor’s new investment tax super deduction policy. This allows companies investing heavily, like BT, to cut their tax bill by 130% on any cost of business investment. 

Wall Street is still putting in a mixed performance, not helped by a lower than expected service sector update for February. The Institute for Supply Management’s services PMI came in at 55.3, well down on January’s 55.3 and confounding expectations of a slight improvement.

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