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* Reckitt tops FTSE 100 gainers
* Premier Inn-owner expects travel to rebound
* THG slides 9% after trading update
* FTSE 100 up 0.7%, FTSE 250 adds 0.7%
(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar
Oct 26 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose for a third straight session on Tuesday, boosted by consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser after it lifted its sales forecast, while the global mood was buoyed by record highs on Wall Street indexes.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE rose 0.7% to hit a fresh highs since February 2020 after S&P 500 .SPX notched a record high at the start of a heavy week of earnings. .N
Lysol cleaning products maker Reckitt Benckiser RKT.L jumped 5.7% to the top of FTSE 100 after it raised its full-year forecast as higher sales of cold and flu remedies and price hikes helped it beat analysts' estimates for third-quarter sales.
Premier Inn-owner Whitbread WTB.L climbed 3.1% after reporting a much smaller half-year loss and saying that it expected a full recovery by 2022.
While record-low interest rates and easing of pandemic restrictions have aided FTSE 100's 12.4% recovery this year, the index has underperformed its European .STOXX and U.S. peers
.SPX due to a large presence of volatile commodity stocks.
"With the FTSE 100, what you've got is an unusual mix of unpredictable stocks like oils and commodity prices which are showing some signs of life," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. "What it hasn't got are the growth stocks that have been so powerful in the U.S."
With expectations of an interest rate hike next month running high, a Bank of England rate-setter Silvana Tenreyro said on Monday she saw no urgency to raise rates, adopting a different approach than Governor Andrew Bailey who signalled last week that the BoE would act to contain inflation risks.
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The domestically focussed mid-cap index .FTMC advanced 0.5%, helped by a rebound in travel companies.
IT services and consulting firm Softcat Plc SCTS.L slid 5.8% after reporting full-year earnings, while e-commerce group THG THG.L fell 9.3% after saying it had appointed an executive from backer SoftBank 9984.T to its board and is looking for an independent chair.
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(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Uttaresh.V)
((BansariMayur.Kamdar@thomsonreuters.com;))
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