FTSE continues good run
London’s leading shares moved forward for a third successive session today led by Northern Rock and Reuters who both reported bullish figures.
The FTSE 100 Index followed yesterday’s 14.1 point gain to finish 25.9 higher at 5877.1.
It came despite Wall Street starting the day in negative territory after a set of disappointing corporate figures.
Northern Rock shares were up 81.5p at 1128p to help it top the leader board after the firm lifted its long term profits growth target from 15% to 20%. The interest from investors came even though the company warned of a modest deterioration in credit quality in the coming months.
With the rest of the sector still to post half-year results, Halifax owner HBOS was 2p lighter at 957.5p, but Alliance & Leicester progressed 14p to stand at 1039p.
Reuters headed the chasing group – up 19.25p to 396.75p – after it announced better-than-expected first half revenues and a hike in its dividend.
Supermarket Morrisons lifted 4p to 204p after Societe Generale upgraded it from sell to buy and said it believes the price war between the big four supermarkets is beginning to ease, allowing retailers to widen margins again. Rivals Tesco rose 6p to stand at 363.5p, while Sainsbury’s gained 4.25p to 349.25p.
PartyGaming led the continued resurgence for gaming stocks – up 3.25p to 109p - following rumours the US gambling bill is unlikely to get a passage through the Senate before the summer recess next month. 888 followed suit, up 12.5p to 161p.
Icap led the fallers board, down 16.5p at 465.25, after announcing a deal with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, while ITV also dropped 2.25p to 98.25p amid ongoing concerns over advertising revenues.
GlaxoSmithKline shares slipped almost 2% – by 23p to 1507p – after half-year figures from the pharmaceuticals giant failed to match raised expectations in the City despite reported progress in the development of a bird flu vaccine.
In the second flight, shares in property website Rightmove were up 7p to 292p after it said it had cut its losses on home information packs and pulled plans for investment in new services worth £22m (€32.17m). The move follows a boardroom review of HIPs in the wake of the Government’s decision last week to withdraw home condition reports from the launch.
Shares in CSR, which designs chips for Bluetooth mobile phone headsets, were up 42p to 1135p after the company reported a 123% rise in pre-tax profits as it benefited from a boom in demand for the technology.
And fellow hi-tech firm Wolfson, which supplies chips for MP3 players and digital cameras, was also on the up – 10p to 419p – after revealing its pre-tax profits had blossomed by 100% and demand for products was increasing.
The day’s biggest blue chip risers were Northern Rock up 81.5p at 1128p, Reuters up 19.25p at 396.75p, Amvescap up 19.25p at 501.75p and PartyGaming up 3.25p at 109p.
The day’s heaviest fallers were Icap down 16.5p at 465.25p, ITV down 2.25p at 98.25p, Man down 43p at 2426p and Yell down 8p at 512.5p.
