FTSE recovers from yesterday's low
The London market recovered a large chunk of last night’s losses after a strong session in Asia and a further dose of takeover activity today.
Prudential, Imperial Tobacco and Cadbury Schweppes were among the top-flight winners, as the FTSE 100 Index climbed 96 points to 6096.7 at mid-morning.
Worries over the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States last night left the Footsie with its lowest close since October after a drop of 160 points.
The latest wobble for the stock market was soon overcome as all but one stock, pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca, stood in positive territory.
Imperial Tobacco set the pace, up 7%, after it emerged that it had made a £6.8bn (€10bn) takeover approach to European rival Altadis, the latest move in a round of consolidation in the sector.
Cadbury Schweppes was also on the front foot as it unveiled plans to split its business in two.
The Dairy Milk maker rose by more than 4%, or 25p, to 627p, as investors reacted positively to the firm’s decision to separate its US drinks division from the rest of its operations.
Insurance group Prudential was ahead 28p at 671p after it outlined plans to cut costs by £195m (€285.7m) a year in a bid to try and improve performance at its UK business. The group posted better-than-expected full year pre-tax operating profits of £1.98bn (€2.9bn).
Investors were also cheered by details of plans by supermarket Morrisons to carry out a £450m (€659.3m) makeover. The stock was up 6.25p to 312.25p as the retailer reported full-year profits of £331m (€484.9m), compared with £54m (€79.1m) last year, slightly ahead of market expectations.
Miners were also helping the Footsie, with BHP Billiton up 45.5p at 1035p and Antofagasta ahead 20p at 468p.
