Sector movers: Technology shares lend support to London trading
Technology and software shares nudged the FTSE 100 back above the 7,000 mark on Thursday, but overall trading remained subdued as Greece’s debt woes continued to impact market sentiment.
ARM Holdings
1,700.00p
17:09 02/09/16
Frontier Smart Technologies Group Limited
25.50p
13:58 18/10/19
FTSE 100
8,040.38
16:34 24/04/24
FTSE 250
19,719.37
17:09 24/04/24
FTSE 350
4,419.71
17:09 24/04/24
FTSE AIM All-Share
754.69
16:50 24/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,374.06
16:44 24/04/24
FTSE Small Cap
6,434.18
17:09 24/04/24
Imagination Technologies Group
181.25p
16:35 02/11/17
PayPoint
527.00p
16:40 24/04/24
Sage Group
1,170.00p
16:35 24/04/24
Software & Computer Services
2,412.52
17:09 24/04/24
Spirent Communications
194.60p
16:45 24/04/24
Support Services
10,566.99
17:09 24/04/24
Technology Hardware & Equipment
1,920.18
16:30 11/04/24
Shrugging off a downward revision to UK headline economic growth for the first quarter from 0.4% to 0.3%, the blue chip index was broadly flat at 7008.39 points down a mere 0.35% having seen positive phases in intraday trading.
IT stocks topped the risers with technology, hardware and equipment index leading the way at 1,385.03 up 24.36 or 1.79%, while the software & computer services index came in at 1,565.28 up 4.92 points or 0.32%
Both segments were not short on market drivers. Chip designer ARM Holdings (up 2.19%) was in demand as M&A activity continued across the sector after reports that Broadcom could be snapped up by Avago Technologies in a $35bn deal.
Semiconductor group Toumaz said it was trading in line with expectations and said it forecast a 30% rise in revenue in the first half of the year. The company’s shares were up 0.71% to 3.40p on the news.
Its digital radio unit was boosted by sizeable growth in Norway and Germany, while the group said its healthcare division had continued to grow and expected further hospitals trials on its vital signs monitoring system to start in the short term future.
Digital solutions payment group Paypoint (up 5.81%) reported a 7.7% increase in pre-tax profits to £49.6m on revenues up 3% to £218.5m, driven by strong bill payment transactions in Romania, and robust growth in UK and Ireland. The company was atop the FTSE 250 risers. Imagination Technologies Group (up 3.80%), Spirent (up 0.86%) and Sage (up 0.80%) were also in the green.
General retailers traded higher after sports apparel chain Sports Direct lifted its guidance for annual profits due to "continued and prudent depreciation policy and lower interest charges".
B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher also impressed after making a "solid" start to the year under new French chief executive Véronique Laury, with like-for-like sales up 0.8% in the first quarter.
British consumer confidence hit its highest level in a year in May, with more households expecting their financial situations to improve over the next 12 months, according to a survey by YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
The poll noted that the consumer confidence index rose to 115.1 in May from 113.6 in April ensuring retail shares traded higher with the headline segment index marginally in the green at 3,304.42 up 0.25% or 8.21 points. Recent speculation about a tie-up between Liberty International and Vodafone (up 0.68%) kept telecommunications stocks marginally higher.
Croda International (up 1.33%), Johnson Matthey (up 1.10%) and Victrex (up 0.68%) infused similar positivity in the chemical segment on a day of relatively lower trading volumes.
Top five risers
Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,385.03 +24.36 +1.79%
Chemicals 12,365.82 +57.19 +0.46%
Software & Computer Services 1,565.28 +4.92 +0.32%
General Retailers 3,304.42 +8.21 +0.25%
Mobile Telecommunications 5,711.88 +9.81 +0.17%