FTSE ends week on a high
London’s leading shares index finished the week on a high after bullish comments from analysts helped lift some of the gloom over the banking sector.
The FTSE 100 Index rose 27.6 points to 5772.2, with Lloyds Banking Group among the biggest risers after Investec said the part-nationalised business was on the mend. Shares were up 3%, or 0.8p at 30.1p.
And an encouraging note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch about European lenders Societe Generale and BNP Paribas provided a further boost to the sector, with Barclays 1.3p higher at 213.6p and Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 0.2p at 24p.
With heavily weighted miners also on the rise, London’s blue chip shares index finished the week more than 100 points or 2% higher.
Sentiment was boosted by gains on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8% as the London market closed after better than expected earnings from McDonald’s and General Electric.
This added to the optimism following well received updates from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America yesterday.
The pound was down against the euro at 1.22 after the single currency regained some of its recent losses. But it was up against the dollar at 1.61 after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a stronger than expected 1.8% rise in retail sales volumes between February and March.
The retail sector failed to gain a significant boost from the strong sales figures, which were driven by panic buying of petrol and better clothes sales in the March “heatwave”.
Argos owner Home Retail Group bounced by 4% or 3.9p to 103.4p and Next was up 19p at 3032p but B&Q owner Kingfisher was down 1.7p at 304p and homewares specialist Dunelm slipped 2.5p to 505p.
However, Marks & Spencer was on the FTSE 100 risers board despite Investec downgrading its forecast and placing a “sell” rating on the stock.
The retailer shrugged off earlier losses to gain 7p at 362.6p, even though the broker expressed doubts over the prospects for consumer confidence and the strength of the company’s strategic plan.
Meanwhile, fashion chain SuperGroup slid by more than a third as it admitted to “arithmetic errors” in its wholesale business and said full-year profits were now set for £43m, compared with City forecasts for £50m.
Matthew McEachran, a retail analyst at Singer Capital Markets, described the update as the “latest calamity” for the company. Shares were down 217.7p to 351.8p.
Elsewhere in the FTSE 250 Index, shares in bookmaker William Hill were 4% higher, up 11.5p to 278.3p, after first quarter figures showed operating profits 19% ahead of last year. It has benefited from continued strong demand from gamblers using the internet and mobile phones to bet on matches as they happen.
The biggest Footsie risers were Severn Trent up 61p at 1720p, Vedanta Resources ahead 37p at 1237p, CRH up 34p at 1246p, and Lloyds ahead 0.8p at 30.1p.
The biggest Footsie fallers were Arm Holdings down 22.5p at 585p, Weir Group off 52p at 1700p, ITV down 2.1p at 86p, and WPP off 12.5p at 843p.
