Shares in Ashtead rally on Trump victory

Shares in Ashtead Group soared on Wednesday, on hopes US revenues at the British firm would be boosted following the historic re-election of Donald Trump as president.

The equipment rental company, which has considerable exposure to the US through American arm Sunbelt, raced to the top of the FTSE 100 leaders board, putting on 6% at 6,308p by noon GMT.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the stock had benefited from "the prospect of more building work created by Trump’s desire to drive the US economy, including greater manufacturing and construction work".

He added: "As a hirer of construction equipment, it is a direct play on hammers and tools pounding away across the country."

Ashtead was one of numerous global stocks to react to Trump securing an emphatic win in the US presidential and Senate elections overnight.

Miner Ferrexpo, which is listed in London with assets in Ukraine, surged 22% to 75.7p, the biggest riser in London, on hopes Trump would move to end the war.

Finalto’s chief market analyst Neil Wilson called Ferrexpo an "Ukraine peace play".

Outside of the UK, Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International surged 9%. The lender is the largest western bank still operating in Russia, with more than half of its global profits coming from Russia and Belarus in the first half of the current year.

In the US, meanwhile, electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors spiked 13% in the pre-market trading. Billionaire chief executive Elon Musk, who donated millions to the Trump campaign, and has been promised a role in the new administration.

American banks also benefited, from hopes that interest rates would stay higher for longer under Trump. Both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs jumped 8%.

But while oil majors pushed higher on the back of Trump’s long-held enthusiasm for the sector, renewable stocks - which had risen in recent weeks on hopes of a Democrat win under Kamala Harris - fell sharply.

Danish offshore wind farm developer Orsted tumbled 11% while Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems, a major turbine manufacturer, was off 10%.