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London close: Footsie near 2-week high
16-02-2010 16:32
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Bumper profits from Barclays and a rampant mining sector propelled London to its highest close in almost two weeks on Tuesday.
Early gains had evaporated by lunchtime, but a recovery in commodity prices sparked by a weaker dollar sent miners north, while strong results from Merck helped Wall Street post triple-digit gains.
The leading index ended the day up 1.5% at its best level since 3 February.
UK bank Barclays held top spot for the entire session as full-year results impressed. Chief executive John Varley and Bob Diamond, head of the group's investment banking division, also elected to forgo bonuses for the second year in succession.
Profit before tax exceeded market expectations at £11.64bn, up from £6.08bn in 2008, helped by a £6.33bn profit on the disposal of Barclays Global Investors. Underlying pre-tax profit surged to £5.63bn from £1.64bn the year before.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch kept its 'buy' rating on the lender, while Credit Suisse retained its 'outperform' rating and 350p target price. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland rose in sympathy.
In the resource sector, Vedanta Resources, Randgold, Xstrata, Fresnillo and Anglo American found plenty of support as risk appetite returned to boost the euro and sterling.
Oil plays were also in demand as US crude futures surged almost 4% to more than $77 a barrel. BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Cairn and Tullow all marched higher.
Shell has also unveiled a major overhaul of its management bonus structure and targets following last year's embarrassment when 60% of the oil giant's shareholders voted against the executive pay scheme at its AGM.
It was a bad day for InterContinental Hotels though as the Holiday Inn owner warned that room rates remain under pressure, with tough trading set to continue as profits fell in 2009. In the year December 31, earnings per share fell to $0.75 from $0.91 the previous year as revenue dropped to $1.54bn from $1.9bn. Sector peer Millennium & Coprthorne eased in sympathy.
Drugs giant AstraZeneca has licensed Rigel Pharmaceuticals' late-stage investigational product for rheumatoid arthritis, fostamatinib disodium (R788).
The recent freezing weather has capped a bumper 2009 for pizza delivery giant Domino's, with like-for-like sales this year rising by 11% as the snow forced people to stay home. The shares are among the weakest in the FTSE 250 though.
Sales in 2009 rose by 16% to £407m, with like-for-likes up by 8.4%, down from 10%, through 501 stores open for over a year. Underlying profits rose by 28% to £29.9m (2008: £23.4m) with pre-tax profit £41m (2008: £22.1m).
Sticking with the food theme, Premier Foods moved into profit in 2009 as higher sales of branded products helped the company behind Hovis bread, Branston pickle and Sharwood's sauces lift margins.
Educational holiday specialist and hotel room booking agent Holidaybreak I on target to perform in line with expectations for the full year. Broker KBC Peel Hunt reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on the stock, saying the group 'as a business is trading significantly below the sum of its parts,' though it expects the shares will not be re-rated until the company appoints its new chief executive.
More heavy restructuring and retrenchment costs sent paper group Mondi into the red again in 2009, the South African group warned. Group underlying operating profit for the second half of 2009 is expected to be above the first half but below that of the comparable period in 2008, it said.
Integrated circuits specialist CML has decided to keep its listing after a review of the benefits, while trading has also started to pick up. Sales between October and 15 February improved from the first half, CML said, especially in the wireless and storage product sectors. Broker Panmure Gordon has responded to the trading statement by issuing a 'buy' recommendation and fixing a target price for the stock of 50p.
Loss making mobile phone payments provider Monitise expects its UK operations to reach a monthly break-even point this year. The company posted a pre-tax loss of £6.67m on revenue of £1.73m in the six months to 31 December 2009, compared to a loss of £6.39m on revenue of £1.10m in the corresponding period of 2008.
IT managed services provider Nexus Management said GWI, a US Internet service provider, is to offer Nexus's co-location, monitoring, management, virtualisation and help-desk services to its customers in the state of Maine.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Barclays (BARC) 293.75p +6.80%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 33.26p +5.25%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,490.00p +5.20%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 49.00p +4.70%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,693.00p +4.06%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 74.35p +3.99%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 966.50p +3.92%
Fresnillo (FRES) 760.00p +3.90%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,058.00p +3.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,439.00p +3.83%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 893.00p -2.93%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,004.00p -1.72%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,282.00p -1.00%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 228.20p -0.95%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,128.50p -0.86%
BT Group (BT.A) 118.70p -0.59%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,177.00p -0.51%
British Airways (BAY) 199.60p -0.50%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,787.00p -0.45%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 294.40p -0.44%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 269.90p +11.81%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 953.50p +9.10%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 547.00p +8.32%
Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 141.00p +7.63%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 271.80p +6.25%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 385.40p +5.07%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 115.90p +3.85%
TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 67.50p +3.77%
Domino Printing (DNO) 360.50p +3.59%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 206.90p +3.50%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Imagination Technologies (IMG) 243.40p -3.79%
Game Group (GMG) 83.85p -3.34%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 65.20p -2.98%
St James's Place (STJ) 248.40p -2.36%
Galiform (GFRM) 86.05p -2.10%
Yell Group (YELL) 36.48p -2.04%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 469.60p -1.78%
Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 161.50p -1.70%
Eaga (EAGA) 153.20p -1.67%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,271.00p -1.47%
Early gains had evaporated by lunchtime, but a recovery in commodity prices sparked by a weaker dollar sent miners north, while strong results from Merck helped Wall Street post triple-digit gains.
The leading index ended the day up 1.5% at its best level since 3 February.
UK bank Barclays held top spot for the entire session as full-year results impressed. Chief executive John Varley and Bob Diamond, head of the group's investment banking division, also elected to forgo bonuses for the second year in succession.
Profit before tax exceeded market expectations at £11.64bn, up from £6.08bn in 2008, helped by a £6.33bn profit on the disposal of Barclays Global Investors. Underlying pre-tax profit surged to £5.63bn from £1.64bn the year before.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch kept its 'buy' rating on the lender, while Credit Suisse retained its 'outperform' rating and 350p target price. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland rose in sympathy.
In the resource sector, Vedanta Resources, Randgold, Xstrata, Fresnillo and Anglo American found plenty of support as risk appetite returned to boost the euro and sterling.
Oil plays were also in demand as US crude futures surged almost 4% to more than $77 a barrel. BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Cairn and Tullow all marched higher.
Shell has also unveiled a major overhaul of its management bonus structure and targets following last year's embarrassment when 60% of the oil giant's shareholders voted against the executive pay scheme at its AGM.
It was a bad day for InterContinental Hotels though as the Holiday Inn owner warned that room rates remain under pressure, with tough trading set to continue as profits fell in 2009. In the year December 31, earnings per share fell to $0.75 from $0.91 the previous year as revenue dropped to $1.54bn from $1.9bn. Sector peer Millennium & Coprthorne eased in sympathy.
Drugs giant AstraZeneca has licensed Rigel Pharmaceuticals' late-stage investigational product for rheumatoid arthritis, fostamatinib disodium (R788).
The recent freezing weather has capped a bumper 2009 for pizza delivery giant Domino's, with like-for-like sales this year rising by 11% as the snow forced people to stay home. The shares are among the weakest in the FTSE 250 though.
Sales in 2009 rose by 16% to £407m, with like-for-likes up by 8.4%, down from 10%, through 501 stores open for over a year. Underlying profits rose by 28% to £29.9m (2008: £23.4m) with pre-tax profit £41m (2008: £22.1m).
Sticking with the food theme, Premier Foods moved into profit in 2009 as higher sales of branded products helped the company behind Hovis bread, Branston pickle and Sharwood's sauces lift margins.
Educational holiday specialist and hotel room booking agent Holidaybreak I on target to perform in line with expectations for the full year. Broker KBC Peel Hunt reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on the stock, saying the group 'as a business is trading significantly below the sum of its parts,' though it expects the shares will not be re-rated until the company appoints its new chief executive.
More heavy restructuring and retrenchment costs sent paper group Mondi into the red again in 2009, the South African group warned. Group underlying operating profit for the second half of 2009 is expected to be above the first half but below that of the comparable period in 2008, it said.
Integrated circuits specialist CML has decided to keep its listing after a review of the benefits, while trading has also started to pick up. Sales between October and 15 February improved from the first half, CML said, especially in the wireless and storage product sectors. Broker Panmure Gordon has responded to the trading statement by issuing a 'buy' recommendation and fixing a target price for the stock of 50p.
Loss making mobile phone payments provider Monitise expects its UK operations to reach a monthly break-even point this year. The company posted a pre-tax loss of £6.67m on revenue of £1.73m in the six months to 31 December 2009, compared to a loss of £6.39m on revenue of £1.10m in the corresponding period of 2008.
IT managed services provider Nexus Management said GWI, a US Internet service provider, is to offer Nexus's co-location, monitoring, management, virtualisation and help-desk services to its customers in the state of Maine.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Barclays (BARC) 293.75p +6.80%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 33.26p +5.25%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,490.00p +5.20%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 49.00p +4.70%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,693.00p +4.06%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 74.35p +3.99%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 966.50p +3.92%
Fresnillo (FRES) 760.00p +3.90%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,058.00p +3.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,439.00p +3.83%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 893.00p -2.93%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,004.00p -1.72%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,282.00p -1.00%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 228.20p -0.95%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,128.50p -0.86%
BT Group (BT.A) 118.70p -0.59%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,177.00p -0.51%
British Airways (BAY) 199.60p -0.50%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,787.00p -0.45%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 294.40p -0.44%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 269.90p +11.81%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 953.50p +9.10%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 547.00p +8.32%
Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 141.00p +7.63%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 271.80p +6.25%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 385.40p +5.07%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 115.90p +3.85%
TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 67.50p +3.77%
Domino Printing (DNO) 360.50p +3.59%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 206.90p +3.50%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Imagination Technologies (IMG) 243.40p -3.79%
Game Group (GMG) 83.85p -3.34%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 65.20p -2.98%
St James's Place (STJ) 248.40p -2.36%
Galiform (GFRM) 86.05p -2.10%
Yell Group (YELL) 36.48p -2.04%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 469.60p -1.78%
Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 161.50p -1.70%
Eaga (EAGA) 153.20p -1.67%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,271.00p -1.47%
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