LONDON: Britain's top equity index advanced on Wednesday, lifted by credit data company Experian and SABMiller, which rose after AB InBev launched its $100 billion-plus bid for SAB.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up by 0.4 percent at 6,301.60 points going into the close of the trading session. The index is down around 4 percent since the start of 2015, and nearly 12 percent below a record high reached in April.
The FTSE remained in positive territory after data showed that Britain's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since early 2008 but also that earnings grew more slowly than expected, highlighting why the Bank of England is in no hurry to raise interest rates.
The top FTSE 100 riser was credit data company Experian , lifted 3 percent by a price target upgrade from broker Citigroup. The stock had already surged on Tuesday.
"Experian's results are better than expected, indicating resilience in many of its business lines and geographies," said Gary Paulin, co-founder of brokerage Aviate Global.
SABMiller also progressed 2.2 percent after AB InBev launched its $100 billion-plus takeover bid on Wednesday and agreed to sell SABMiller's 58 percent stake in US joint venture MillerCoors.
However, supermarket operator Sainsbury slid 6.2 percent after reporting a drop in first-half profits and announcing plans to cut more prices to close the gap on fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl.
"Despite all the positive talk about strategy delivery, Sainsbury continues to lose sales and market share and reduce margins thereby reducing return on capital.
Sainsbury expects the tough background to be maintained through the second half so respite is still some way off," said David Stoddart, analyst at Edison Investment Research.
Telecoms provider Talktalk, which is in the FTSE 250 mid-cap index, jumped 12 percent.
TalkTalk's shares slumped in October after the company fell victim to a cyber attack, but the stock recovered on Wednesday after TalkTalk raised its interim dividend by 15 percent and maintained its guidance for this financial year.
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