FTSE regains some ground
The London market made strong gains today as cheerier trading on the back of some good US news more than wiped out yesterday’s 1.3% fall.
Banks and insurers were doing particularly well in the wake of the pledge from the US Federal Reserve to offer continued support for banks.
The FTSE 100 Index was up 84 points to 5524.5 by mid-morning, well clear of the bear market territory visited yesterday amid a welter of economic gloom.
London trading started well after Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up more than 1% overnight.
The best performer was London Stock Exchange, a hefty faller yesterday over fears for future business. Its shares firmed during the morning to rise more than 11%, or 76.5p to 747.5p.
The wider financial sector was also in much better shape. Lloyds TSB was nearly 7% up, or 19.5p to 305.25p while rivals Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays were enjoying sizeable gains, adding 10.6p to 205.5p and 15p to 294p respectively.
Insurers also joined the surge, with Norwich Union owner Aviva rising 21p to 517p and Legal & General 5.1p higher at 101.4p.
On the fallers board, marketing services giant WPP Group lost 10.75p to 453.25p after investors failed to get excited over its £1 billion bid for market research giant Taylor Nelson Sofres. But TNS – which has agreed a merger with German rival GfK – was 5% ahead, or 13.75p to 261.75p.
In the FTSE 250, housebuilders were on firmer ground despite another flurry of trading gloom and job loss announcements from Redrow and Bovis. The firms were up 13.75p to 110p and 4.25p to 321.75p respectively. Under-pressure Taylor Wimpey was also up 4p to 30p.
Price comparison website moneysupermarket.com also staged a turnaround after its shares initially lost further ground following yesterday’s 32% plunge in the wake of warnings of a £7m (€8.8m) revenue hit. But investors eyeing value sent shares up nearly 10%, or 6p to 65.5p.
