LONDON (ShareCast) - London staged a strong rally after the gloom of the past few days led by the banks and housebuilders.

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered all posted big gains after unexpectedly strong results yesterday from the San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo and investment bank JP Morgan today.

Fund manager Schroders rose after acquiring a foothold in Taiwan through the purchase of an investment trust. Schroders is paying £8.6m for E.Sun Securities Investment Trust, a company that has a Securities Investment Trust Enterprise (SITE) licence that will enable Schroders to establish an onshore investment capability in Taiwan.

Hotel and pub groups InterContinental Hotels, Whitbread, Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns were higher after positive newspaper comment.

Cable and Wireless advanced after Lehman Brothers has lifted its rating on the telecoms group to "overweight" from "equal-weight" and raised its target price to 200p from 190p.

In other broker coverage, SG Securities has downgraded its rating on British Land to "hold" from "buy" as part of a review of European real estate companies.

Travel companies TUI and Thomas Cook received a boost from Morgan Stanley, which recommends its clients be overweight in both stocks.

Housebuilders were wanted after UBS upgraded Persimmon, Redrow and Bellway from “sell” to “neutral”, while Berkeley Group was upgraded to a “buy”.

Retailer Kingfisher rose after it announced the appointment of DSG's finance director Kevin O'Byrne, who will succeed Duncan Tatton-Brown, from 1 October 2008. DSG said Nicholas Cadbury will be appointed finance director with effect from 14 August.

Aero engine giant Rolls-Royce rose on reports that it is to expand its nuclear business. Also today, it said orders from leasing companies AWAS and LCAL for Trent engines will be worth nearly $400m.

Cathedral City cheese group Dairy Crest has started its new financial year in line with expectations, with price hikes helping to offset rising commodity costs.

Mothercare saw total group sales rise 20.7% in the first quarter. UK like-for-like sales in the period rose 1% with total UK sales up 19.5. The group said Direct in Home sales surged 77.7%.

Emerging markets fund manager Ashmore saw assets under management leap by $1.2bn, or 3%, in the fourth quarter, taking the total for the year up 19% to $37.5bn. The 3% increase during the three months ended 30 June was made up mostly of local currency and dollar debt, said the UK mid-cap.

Fund manager Rathbone Brothers has agreed in principle to offload its offshore trust businesses in Jersey and Singapore to management and private equity firm Dunedin.

Outdoor clothing retailer Blacks Leisure said its cost savings programme is ahead of schedule and boosting pre-tax profits despite a dip in sales.

Online marketing specialist TMN Group said takeover talks with August Equity LLP have been terminated after the fund advisor failed to secure "sufficient" third part debt financing to support an offer.

The chief development officer of Meldex International is considering a buy-out of the company.

Shares in semiconductor wafer specialist IQE climbed after the company said its strong trading patterns continued in the second quarter.

Trinity Mirror maintains its rally after it said yesterday it is trading comfortably within the covenants for its debt facilities.


FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 45.00p +9.22%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,472.00p +9.20%
Barclays (BARC) 290.50p +8.90%
Old Mutual (OML) 95.80p +8.86%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 179.50p +8.79%
Invensys (ISYS) 260.75p +8.65%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Drax Group (DRX) 714.50p -5.24%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,100.00p -1.96%
International Power (IPR) 418.00p -1.76%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,290.00p -1.75%
British Energy Group (BGY) 710.00p -1.73%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 40.25p +24.81%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 73.75p +21.90%
Bellway (BWY) 538.50p +20.20%
Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG) 766.50p +18.84%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 70.00p +16.67%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 166.75p -7.36%
Informa (INF) 395.00p -6.89%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 634.00p -5.37%
Melrose Resources (MRS) 413.25p -4.34%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,731.00p -3.83%

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