FTSE strays little from opening mark
The London market strayed little from its opening mark today despite a strong performance among oil stocks.
The FTSE 100 Index edged just 5.2 points up to 5506.7 by mid-morning after little movement in the United States and Japan today.
Among the main movers in London were energy firms such as BG Group and Cairn Energy, up 6.5p to 554p ad 18p to 1892p respectively, as oil prices held firm at 61 US dollars a barrel.
Heavyweight BP also made gains – ahead 5p to 635.5p – while shares in Royal Dutch Shell cheered 11p to 1879p after it announced plans to invest £2bn (€2.9bn) more than previously expected on long-term infrastructure projects.
Argos owner GUS was also enjoying a good session and moved 7p ahead to 976p as investors welcomed its Burberry demerger.
But fellow retailer Marks & Spencer was in less good shape despite the EU ruling in its favour in a tax rebate issue with the UK Government. Shares in M&S fell 5.5p to 480p.
Elsewhere, PartyPoker owner PartyGaming continued to slip back having made strong gains last week. The stock was 6.5p lower at 129p after broker Lehman Brothers downgraded its rating from “overweight” to “underweight”.
And mobile phone giant Vodafone was in negative territory as investors gave a lukewarm reception to news that it had won the bidding race for Turkish firm Telsim. Vodafone was down 1.5p to 126.75p today.
Mining companies were also a drag on the top flight with Xstrata down 17p at 1360p and Rio Tinto off 13p at 2477p.
Investors were not impressed by news from confectionery giant Cadbury Schweppes that it would not hit its profit margin targets in 2005 because of soaring costs on the back of rocketing prices. Shares fell 6p to 546p as it also announced £70m (€103m) plans to invest in a new chewing gum factory in Poland.
