StanChart jumps after posting a 5.5 rise in pretax profit
Smurfit Kappa shares rise on quarterly earnings improvement
FTSE 100 up 0.5, FTSE 250 adds 0.1

May 2 Reuters Britain39;s bluechip share index rose on Thursday as shares of Shell and Standard Chartered jumped after strong results, while investors also took comfort from the Federal Reserve dismissing the possibility of more interest rate hikes.

The bluechip FTSE 100 gained 0.5 to 8,157.63 points, hovering close to its record high of 8,199.95 points hit on Tuesday.

Standard Chartered jumped 6.6 to a sixmonth high and led gains on the bluechip index after the emerging marketsfocused lender posted a 5.5 rise in firstquarter pretax profit that beat estimates.

This was as close to a clean sweep of firstquarter results as you can get. Pretty much every major line item was better than markets had expected, Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said.

The FTSE 350 banks index rose 1.3 to a more than fiveyear high.

Shell climbed 1.6 after the energy giant reported a much betterthanexpected firstquarter profit of 7.7 billion on the back of strong oil trading and higher refining margins.

Asian markets rose too, while other European markets were subdued after the Fed kept interest rates steady as expected on Wednesday and Chair Jerome Powell suggested future policy moves could be to keep holding or cutting rates rather than a hike.

Market momentum will be driven by future data, which will influence if…