Footsie bounces back
London’s top stocks climbed back on track today following the shock interest rate rise yesterday, but strong profits from British Airways failed to lure investors.
BA was top of the fallers board with a drop of 3% while Royal Bank of Scotland shares could only creep up 0.2% in the wake of an update that contained few surprises.
The rest of the market was in better form, with mining stocks helping lift the FTSE 100 Index by 13 points to 5851.4 by mid-morning.
A drop of 12p to 377p for BA came despite first quarter pre-tax profits of £195 million being at the top end of market expectations.
BA also upgraded its revenues guidance for the year, but added that fuel costs could be up £600 million higher on a year ago and that the second half of the year was likely to be more challenging.
RBS shares had initially dipped this morning, but regained some ground to stand 2p stronger at 1721p after meeting City hopes with a 23% improvement in half-year profits to £4.51 billion.
Mining firm Anglo-American topped the leader board up 5% – or 109p to 2332p - after posting higher first half profits and announcing a share buy back scheme.
The gains were reflected in rival mining stocks with Vedanta up 22p to 1290p, Kazakhmys boosted 12p to 1226p and Antofagasta increasing 5.25p to 424p.
However, the interest rate rise continued to knock retail stocks with Dixons owner DSG International off 1.75p at 194p and Kingfisher, which runs B&Q, down 1p to 235.25p amid fears over a dent in consumer confidence.
Outside the top flight, bakery chain Greggs fell 14p to 3736p, after higher energy costs caused first half profits to decline by 20%.
