LONDON (ShareCast) - More cheery data from the US banking sector helped London's leading index put its early losses firmly behind it to finish sharply higher.
US banking giant Citigroup released second quarter losses that were better than feared, enticing investors back into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HSBC.
EvenBarclays was wanted despite receiving acceptances from just 19% of shareholders for its open offer. The apathetic response from shareholders means Qatar Investment Authority, Challenger, China Development Bank, Temasek and institutional shareholders will end up with the remaining shares.
US-exposed building supplies group Wolseley, which like the banks has been hit hard by the credit crisis, was the best performer though, gaining nearly 15%.
Housebuilders continued their rally from yesterday when UBS said they have been oversold. It said current share prices factor in “overly bearish cuts to net tangible assets and do not reflect that sector debt should be cut by £3.1bn between 2007 and 2009.”
The sector was also helped by Kier Group saying it expects to beat last year’s trading performance, with underlying pre-tax profit in line with current market expectations. Taylor Wimpey posted strong gains, as has Barratt Developments and Persimmon.
Kazakhstan’s ENRC and Kazakhmys plus the Ukraine's Ferrexpo led miners lower in line with falling metal prices. Copper fell on concerns demand from China will slow as economic growth eases. Xstrata is also posting chunky losses.
Reckitt Benckiser fell back after French consumer products group L'Oreal trimmed its guidance for full-year like-for-like sales growth.
Engineer Invensys reports a satisfactory start to the new financial year. Overall operating performance during the first quarter ended 30 June 2008 was in line with expectations.
RBS gave British American Tobacco a lift, raising its recommendation on the firm to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ saying it thinks tobacco stocks look more attractive than food and household goods companies.
JP Morgan has trimmed its target price on the fashion retailer Next to 1,050p from 1,100p saying it expects retail trends to remain weak next year. The broker, which has a ‘neutral’ stance on Next, has reduced its earnings per share forecasts on the company by 2% for this year and by 7% for next year.
JPM has lowered its target price on financial news provider Thomson Reuters to 1,900p from 2,000p, but kept its ‘overweight’ rating on the company.
Aberdeen Asset's funds at the end of June rose to £113.6bn from £107.2bn three months earlier despite a decline in performance. Net new funds amounted to £877m and acquisitions added a further £7.3bn offsetting a fall of £1.8bn in investment performance.
Electrocomponents says organic growth has slowed compared to the first half last year. The distributor said group sales were up 1% in the three months to June with international sales up 4% and UK sales down 2%.
Bid speculation has lifted Cape Lambert Iron Ore as it confirmed it met with people from Merrill Lynch and Evraz Group in Singapore yesterday, but said no information from that meeting needs to be advised at this time.
Shares in educational training firm ILX Group chalked up good gains after the company said its strong momentum had continued into its new financial year.
Market Movers
techMARK 1,389.61 +1.97%
FTSE 100 5,376.40 +1.70%
FTSE 250 8,964.70 +2.81%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Wolseley (WOS) 327.00p +14.44%
Barclays (BARC) 320.25p +10.24%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 331.00p +10.15%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 197.60p +10.08%
Schroders (SDR) 1,029.00p +9.76%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 914.00p +9.07%
Carnival (CCL) 1,745.00p +8.45%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 345.00p +7.56%
Admiral Group (ADM) 853.00p +7.36%
Friends Provident (FP.) 86.50p +7.19%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 270.00p -8.24%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,036.00p -5.82%
Lonmin (LMI) 2,410.00p -4.14%
Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 619.00p -3.88%
John Wood Group (WG.) 386.75p -3.67%
Tesco (TSCO) 375.80p -3.34%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,352.00p -2.87%
Drax Group (DRX) 694.00p -2.87%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 2,420.00p -2.73%
Amec (AMEC) 833.50p -1.88%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Johnston Press (JPR) 50.75p +26.09%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 83.75p +19.64%
Northgate (NTG) 377.00p +17.90%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 142.25p +17.08%
DSG International (DSGI) 44.25p +15.69%
Galiform (GFRM) 41.00p +15.49%
SIG (SHI) 455.25p +15.33%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 85.00p +15.25%
Persimmon (PSN) 336.50p +15.24%
Debenhams (DEB) 42.00p +15.07%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,310.00p -6.76%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 599.00p -5.52%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 2,541.00p -5.50%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 52.00p -4.71%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 292.50p -3.62%
PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 160.75p -3.60%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 62.50p -3.10%
Game Group (GMG) 247.50p -2.94%
De La Rue (DLAR) 896.00p -2.71%
Croda International (CRDA) 655.00p -2.67%
FTSE TechMARK - Risers
ARC International (ARK) 17.75p +12.70%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 122.00p +11.16%
Fidessa (FDSA) 865.00p +8.13%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.40p +7.69%
Vernalis (VER) 4.40p +7.32%
BATM Advanced (BVC) 51.50p +7.29%
Corin Group (CRG) 156.25p +6.29%
Psion (PON) 80.50p +5.92%
Torotrak (TRK) 18.25p +5.80%
Computacenter (CCC) 147.00p +5.38%
FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Robotic Technology (RTS) 4.38p -12.50%
Emblaze (BLZ) 29.25p -8.59%
Triad Group (TRD) 16.50p -5.71%
AEA Technology (AAT) 50.00p -5.66%
Renovo Group (RNVO) 44.00p -5.38%
Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 49.25p -5.29%
Inion (IIN) 6.88p -5.10%
Filtronic (FTC) 72.00p -4.64%
Vtech (VTH) 257.50p -3.74%
NXT (NTX) 13.25p -3.64%
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