FTSE finishes in black
A strong start on Wall Street helped the FTSE 100 Index finish a volatile session in positive territory today.
The Footsie had been in the red for much for the day, but closed 18.3 points ahead at 3712.1 as the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted early gains of almost 2%.
Investors across the Atlantic were cheered by better than expected retail sales figures and shrugged off a ratings downgrade for conglomerate General Electric.
This lifted the mood in London, where initial selling had threatened to unwind Tuesday’s near-5% rally.
Investors were put on the back foot by GDP data from Japan showing the world’s second biggest economy in the grip of its worst slump for 35 years.
Despite the wider market gloom, insurer Standard Life and supermarket Morrisons bucked the trend by delivering well-received annual results.
Morrisons was one of the leading Footsie risers after it announced a 7% rise in annual profits and confirmed its commitment to expansion over the year ahead.
Shares were up 9.75p to 255.5p, while rival Tesco recovered from a poor start to climb 6.4p to 321.8p and Sainsbury’s added 1.5p to 303.75p.
Standard Life also provided one of London’s biggest gains after it reported a 6% increase in operating profits and said it would look for further cost cuts.
With Standard also reassuring investors over its solvency position, shares rallied 11.5p to 172.8p, an improvement of 7%.
It was only surpassed at the top of the Footsie risers board by life and pensions firm Friends Provident. Friends, which reports its own results next week, added 6.2p to 72.3p.
It was a decent performance given the slide seen by former Norwich Union firm Aviva, back under pressure today after brokers at Citigroup slapped a sell rating on the company. Shares fell 22.5p to 191p, more than 10%.
Meanwhile an unscheduled trading update from Thomas Cook failed to prevent the tour operator becoming the top-flight’s worse performer, after its European chief warned the tourism market would worsen through 2010.
While Thomas Cook said in a brief statement that trading continued to be in line with expectations, shares refused to budge and remained 26.5p lower at 203.5p, a drop of 11%. Rival TUI Travel fell 14p to 226.25p.
Elsewhere a trading update from Home Retail Group also brought a thumbs-down from investors, even though it said its Argos catalogue chain performed better than expected in the past two months.
Shares opened higher but were later down 15p at 189p as investors worried about trading prospects this year.
In the FTSE 250, Yellow Pages directories firm Yell was the leading faller, down 2.25p to 15p, or 13%. The company’s relegation from the second tier was confirmed yesterday.
The biggest Footsie risers were Friends Provident up 6.2p at 72.3p, Standard Life up 11.5p at 172.8p, Inmarsat ahead 29p at 459p, and Serco up 17p at 386.25p.
The leading Footsie fallers were Thomas Cook down 26.25p at 203.5p, Aviva down 22.5p at 191p, Home Retail Group off 15p at 189p and TUI Travel down 14p at 226.25p.
