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London close: Footsie ends with modest gains

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Date: Tuesday 15 May 2007

  • Market Movers
  • techMARK 1,580.94 +0.47%
  • FTSE 100 6,568.60 +0.20%
  • FTSE 250 12,092.20 +0.45%

LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s benchmark index has finished the day with modest gains as a surge in Wall Street pulled stocks into the blue.

Buyers were out in force in the US, pushing the blue chip Dow Jones up to 100 points in the first couple of hours as the latest inflation data reignited hopes of a cut in interest rates this year.

In London, Hanson jumped after it recommended an £11 per share bid from HeidelbergCement in a deal that values the last remaining significant heavy materials company under British ownership at about £8bn.

Thomson Corp has also agreed to buy Reuters for £8.7bn in cash and shares, but analysts remain sceptical as to how it will get past the regulatory hurdles. Nonetheless, shares in Reuters stormed ahead.

Meanwhile, bid hopes seem to be fading for miner Rio Tinto, which was one of the biggest fallers today. Centrica, which yesterday announced recouping 1m customers since revealing its price cuts in February, led the fallers with fellow utility firm Scottish Southern Energy also down.

Enterprise was the best riser after it said it is looking at ways to convert to REIT status and analysts are beavering away trying to work out the potential dividend uplift for both companies if it can be done.

In reaction, Deutsche Bank kept Enterprise as a ‘buy’ and improved its price target to 860p from 790p before. Punch Taverns was also higher.

Publisher Reed Elsevier continued its stunning run, as ABN Amro repeated "buy" advice and lifted its price target to 795p from 640p. The Dutch broker reckons the impending sale of the group’s education business to Pearson for $950m in cash will be the first of many management steps to unlock value.

Broker chat also helped GlaxoSmithKline, with Goldman Sachs upgrading shares in the drugs major to 'neutral' from 'sell' with price target up to 1,500p from 1,425p.

Britvic was in the blue as Citigroup upgraded the soft drinks outfit to 'buy' from 'hold' with target up to 425p from 335p before, while home emergency services firm Homeserve rallied after UBS upped the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral' and raised its target to 2,350p.

Builders merchant Travis Perkins pushed ahead on an upbeat trading statement. The Wickes owner says it is currently trading ahead of its expectations with both its merchanting and retailing businesses performing well.

Shipbuilder and support services group VT reported revenues of over £1bn for the first time last year with forward orders now standing at £3.7bn.

Jeweller Abbeycrest jumped today after announcing that it swung into full-year profits, despite reporting that trading conditions continue to be challenging.

Female fashion group Slimma said the challenging environment has been further complicated by unseasonable warm weather as profits slumped in the first half.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 769.50p +5.85%
Hanson (HNS) 1,107.00p +4.73%
Reuters Group (RTR) 626.00p +3.39%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 1,384.00p +3.05%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,395.00p +2.05%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,185.00p +1.80%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 677.00p +1.65%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 545.00p +1.58%
Wolseley (WOS) 1,295.00p +1.57%
Drax (DRX) 784.00p +1.55%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Centrica (CNA) 387.25p -1.53%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,616.00p -1.34%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,480.00p -1.28%
Friends Provident (FP.) 205.75p -1.20%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,525.00p -1.04%
Rexam (REX) 518.50p -0.86%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,085.00p -0.82%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,759.00p -0.82%
BP (BP.) 558.50p -0.71%
Experian (EXPN) 581.00p -0.68%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Homeserve (HSV) 1,986.00p +12.33%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,076.00p +7.39%
VT Group (VTG) 550.00p +5.41%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,095.00p +4.80%
Wimpey (WMPY) 609.00p +3.75%
Marston's (MARS) 467.00p +3.66%
Computacenter (CCC) 265.75p +3.20%
Helphire Group (HHR) 416.25p +2.65%
Croda (CRDA) 646.50p +2.62%
Mouchel Parkman (MCHL) 429.00p +2.45%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Informa (INF) 586.50p -4.40%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 44.50p -3.26%
Hochschild Mining PLC Ord 50p (WI) (HOC) 315.75p -2.85%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 310.75p -2.51%
DS Smith (SMDS) 247.00p -2.47%
Game Group (GMG) 169.50p -2.45%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 4,760.00p -2.44%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 1,530.00p -2.36%
Temple Bar Inv Trust (TMPL) 861.00p -1.71%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 231.00p -1.70%

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