Rental equipment provider Ashtead Group PLC
rose 2.7% after raising dividend and saying it expects full-year results ahead of previous estimates."Ferguson spun-off its UK-based operation Wolseley, so it's now just a U.S.-based company, and Ashtead also has a very big presence in the U.S.," said Michael Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets.
"They're essentially leveraging a decent recovery in the U.S. economy and that's why they are posting decent gains."led gains on the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 as copper prices were boosted by monetary policy easing in top consumer China. The FTSE 100 has rebounded to levels touched before the detection of the Omicron variant in late-November after experts said the new strain might not be as severe as feared.