FTSE 100 rises sharply as technology and mining stocks push higher

The nation is glued to Netflix, shopping fervently online and largely interacting using video conferencing software. There’s arguably never been a better time to be a tech cheerleader, which boosted two key stocks today.

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, the tech investor that this week saw its market cap break £10 billion, was in favour. The FTSE 100 company’s portfolio includes Amazon, Netflix, Zoom and Alibaba and shares have risen rapidly since the virus hit Europe.

The stock pushed even higher today as the investment company, founded in 1909 and managed by Baillie Gifford, bucked the trend for axing dividends. It plans to up its payout by 4% to 3.25p. Results for the year to March 31 showed its net asset value total return increased 13.7% to 567.3p.

SMIT’s portfolio has remained largely the same of late, with the addition of a handful of unquoted companies like payments firm Stripe. The trust marked down the value of some of its unquoted stocks last month, but did not say which.

The firm’s patient approach appears to be paying off. Chair Fiona McBain said: “While humans are generally poor at understanding and dealing with sudden change in the moment, as a group we excel at innovation and adaptation over the longer term. Collectively, we will find ways to move forward.”

Jefferies analyst Matthew Hose said: “They have largely been sitting on their hands amid the current crisis, with no meaningful shifts in the portfolio. This is the same behaviour as in 2008, and is highly consistent with their long-term investment horizon.” SMIT shares jumped 19p to 694p.

Meanwhile, IT services provider Computacenter was also on the charge after picking up a string of new corporate clients. The working from home boom has meant trading was “considerably ahead” of the first half of last year, and the stock surged 128p to 1463p, valuing the company near £1.7 billion.

The FTSE 100 ended another rollercoaster week on the up, rising 72.89 points to 5814.43 as investors took heart from improving economic data from China, where factory output rose for the first time this year. Mining stocks were in demand, with Anglo American stepping up 70p to 1345p, BHP rising 64p at 1419p and Fresnillo up 23p to 719p.

The wave of share placings continued, but Boohoo’s was one with a difference. The online fashion retailer has raised £197.7 million, helped by Zeus Capital and Jefferies, to fund acquisitions of troubled fashion businesses, in contrast to a string of recent placings aimed at shoring up balance sheets. The shares were up 3p at 354p. Video game tech supplier Keyword Studios was also busy, raising £100 million aided by Numis and Citigroup, and the shares dropped 60p to 1480p.

Small-cap spotlight

Investors tuned into virtual reality firm EVR today as the company opened up a new front in its mission to entertain bored music fans. The owner of the MelodyVR virtual reality gigs app said it has built a studio in Los Angeles to host a series of live concerts, starting with singer-songwriter John Legend tomorrow. The studio has a separate entrance for artists and will be cleaned regularly to attempt to prevent coronavirus spreading. Katelyn Tarver and The Score are also due to perform there next week. The shares, up sharply since the virus outbreak, rose 13% to 4.86p.