Global shares extended their advance on Thursday as traders digested a mix of corporate results, central bank signals and renewed tension in the Middle East. In London, the FTSE 100 climbed 1.6%, while the FTSE 250 and AIM also finished firmer, helped by gains in heavyweight industrial and utility stocks.

The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% after an eight-to-one vote, with chief economist Huw Pill backing a quarter-point increase instead. In its April monetary policy report, the central bank set out three scenarios for the UK economy, all of which pointed to higher near-term inflation than it had projected in February, as policymakers weighed the risk that an energy shock could feed through into wages and prices. Governor Andrew Bailey said the next move would depend on how severe and how long the energy disruption proves to be.

In Europe, the European Central Bank also kept policy unchanged, but Christine Lagarde made clear that officials had discussed a rise before settling on a pause. She said the governing council was trying to avoid moving too soon or too late, and declined to rule out a June increase, telling reporters that six weeks would be the right interval to judge progress. Earlier ECB hikes in 2023 had lifted rates to their highest level in more than two decades, underlining how determined policymakers remain to push inflation back to target.

Wall Street was broadly higher too, though technology shares moved unevenly. Alphabet surged after stronger-than-expected results from its cloud business, while Meta fell sharply as investors bristled at another rise in capital spending. Treasury yields were little changed, sterling strengthened against both the dollar and the euro, and gold advanced as investors kept one eye on the risk that the conflict in the Middle East could unsettle energy markets further.

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Source: Noah Wire Services