Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Latest: Morrisons and Meggitt to enter FTSE 100 in next reshuffle
- Huw Pill appointed Bank of England chief economist
- UK factories lifted selling prices amid supply problems
- Output rise in August, but at weakest extent since February
- UK house prices jumped 2.1% in August – second largest monthly gain in 15 years
- Prices now 13% higher than when pandemic began
- Shop prices rise amid driver shortages and Brexit red tape
6.12pm BST
Some late news: supermarket chain Morrisons and aerospace engineering firm Meggitt are both being promoted to the FTSE 100 index.
The two takeover targets are being lifted to the blue-chip index in the latest quarterly review of the UK market, up from the smaller FTSE 250 index.
The rules-driven, impartial quarterly reviews ensure the indexes continue to portray an accurate reflection of the market they represent and form an essential component to the management of the indexes.
FTSE reshuffle confirmed:
FTSE 100 in: Morrisons, Meggitt; out: Weir, Just Eat (nationality change, no longer qualifies for FTSE)
FTSE 250 in: Baltic Classifieds, Blackrock Throgmorton Trust, Bridgepoint, Darktrace, Draper Esprit, Endeavour Mining, Weir
FTSE 250 out: Avon Protection, Civitas Social Housing, Meggitt, Morrisons, Temple Bar Investment Trust, Tullow Oil, Wickes
Changes happen Monday 20 Sep https://t.co/LIeZ6npwha
Related: City veteran Simon Laffin on the challenges posed by controversial takeovers
FTSE Russell classified Just Eat Takeaway as British after the 2020 combination of Britain’s Just Eat and Dutch competitor Takeaway.com, making it eligible for the FTSE, because the company had said it would delist its stock from Euronext Amsterdam. Just Eat Takeaway backtracked on that earlier this year, prompting FTSE Russell to change the company’s assigned nationality to Dutch last month
The ouster means the FTSE 100’s already-low technology weighting will shrink even further. Technology stocks account for only 1.8% of the index, versus about 30% for the S&P 500 Index in the U.S.
5.40pm BST
Energy news: The Opec group and their allies have agreed to stick with their current plan to gradually increase oil output.
“While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to cast some uncertainty, market fundamentals have strengthened and OECD stocks continue to fall as the recovery accelerates.”
OPEC wraps in record time. Parties agree to continue 400,000 b/d monthly increase. Calm has returned to group after a fraught July. Longer-term question is can non-GCC producers replace production quick enough to keep up after 18 months of underinvestment https://t.co/kBoMOjSa6l
Related: Opec member urges oil producers to focus more on renewable energy