(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks advanced on Wednesday as investors awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day for interest-rate clues.
In economic news, U.K. shop prices grew at the fastest pace since records began in 2005 largely due to rising food and energy prices, the British Retail Consortium said.
Shop price inflation accelerated to 7.4 percent in November from 6.6 percent in October. This was above the three-month average rate of 6.5 percent.
The benchmark FTSE 100 rose 34 points, or half a percent, to 7,546 after rising half a percent on Tuesday.
Water and waste management company Pennon Group tumbled 5 percent after reporting a decline in pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2023.
AstraZeneca gained half a percent after selling its manufacturing site in West Chester, Ohio to National Resilience, Inc.
Property investment and development firm SEGRO added half a percent after announcing the launch and pricing of 350 million pounds, 19-year senior unsecured bond issue.
