LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s top stocks climbed higher near the close boosted by a reasonable start on Wall Street and a good performance from telecoms giant and index heavyweight BT.

Telecoms giant BT saw fourth quarter revenue rise 2% to £5.4bn with new-wave revenues representing 42%. EBITDA before specific items and leaver costs rose 2% to £1.6bn. The full year dividend has been increased from 15.1p to 15.8p.

Full year profits have risen more than expected at brewing giant SABMiller as the Miller Lite and Peroni firm battled a “substantial” rise in input costs.

Cadbury moved higher after its outgoing chairman Sir John Sutherland said first half revenues should be at the top end of expectations.

Banks dominated the fallers after Barclays saw first quarter profits drop on £1bn worth of new credit crunch related write-downs. The write-down for its investment banking unit is net of a £700m gain on the fair valuation of notes issued by Barclays Capital.

Today’s statement did not contain any hints on whether Barclays plans to join rival Royal Bank of Scotland in asking its shareholders for new funds, but the bank refused to rule out a rights issue in a conference call with reporters.

HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Alliance & Leicester and Barclays were all among the top fallers.

Electrical specialist DSG International, which owns the Dixons chain, plans to slash the total dividend in half, beginning with the full year to 3 May 2008, as part of a five point plan for the renewal and transformation of the group, announced today. In the FTSE 100, Argos owner Home Retail Group fell in sympathy.

Miner Vedanta was lower despite reporting record full year revenues and earnings on the back of a significant increase in volumes. Meanwhile, long time bid target Xstrata turned predator as the miner launched an unwelcome bid for Australia-based miner Indophil Resources.

Private equity firm 3i achieved a strong performance in the year despite challenging conditions but warned that it remains cautious about the current year.

Broadcaster ITV's net advertising revenue (NAR) will outperform the overall market in the first half as revenues in the first quarter increased 3%.

Nightclub owner Luminar reported full year profits roughly in line with expectations and an improvement in like for like sales at the start of the new financial year.

Floor coverings distributor Headlam said revenues for the first three months of the year have risen 7.3%. Security firm G4S has got shot of its German manned security and monitoring businesses.

Inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon's trading in the first four months of 2008 reflects the benefit of its recent acquisitions as well as favourable market conditions, it said. Business publisher Informa is trading in line with expectations and said it remains confident about its prospects for the full year.

Industrial ceramics group Cookson said business has continued to trade in line with its expectations.

Corin slumped again on a disappointing trading update yesterday. The artificial knee specialist reported poor sales of its new cormet knee in the US.

International car dealer Inchcape said the anticipated tail off at its Singapore business contributed to a decline in like-for-like sales in the first quarter. Total sales in sterling terms rose 6.5% in the first quarter of 2008 but were little changed from a year earlier in constant currency terms.

Data centre operator Telecity said it has made an excellent start to the year with net order intake value for the first four months 87% ahead of the level achieved last year.

FTSE 100 - Risers
BT Group (BT.A) 235.25p +5.38%
ICAP (IAP) 635.00p +4.70%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 3,532.00p +4.25%
SABMiller (SAB) 1,250.00p +3.91%
Cadbury (CBRY) 672.00p +3.86%
Admiral Group (ADM) 887.50p +3.50%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 255.75p -5.10%
Sage Group (SGE) 220.00p -2.22%
Barclays (BARC) 418.75p -1.99%
Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW) 254.00p -1.65%
Shire (SHP) 838.50p -1.64%
ITV (ITV) 61.90p -1.59%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Aricom (ORE) 98.00p +8.59%
Invensys (ISYS) 324.00p +6.40%
Mapeley (MAY) 1,285.00p +5.59%
Venture Production (VPC) 830.00p +5.20%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 838.50p +4.81%
Investec (INVP) 377.00p +4.50%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
DSG International (DSGI) 64.00p -7.58%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 135.00p -6.25%
Misys (MSY) 167.50p -4.83%
WH Smith (SMWH) 402.25p -3.65%
PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 163.00p -3.55%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 439.75p -3.03%

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