THE LONDON REPORT
A flurry of US economic data and a rebound in metals prices helped push Britain’s top share index to a higher close yesterday, with Compass Group topping the blue-chip gainers list after results.
The FTSE 100 ended up 40.85 points, or 0.8 per cent at 5,364.81, following a 0.6 per cent decline on Tuesday.
Miners added the most points to the index with Randgold Resources among the biggest blue-chip gainers, up 3 per cent, after the price of gold hit a record high and prices of key base metals advanced. Also featuring on the FTSE 100 leader board were Lonmin, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Antofagasta, which added 2.5 to 3.2 per cent.
“Recently any pullback has been met by further buying, so the momentum is still in favour of the bulls,” said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads.
“We’re in a bullish time of year. Out of the last 10 years, on eight occasions the market has risen in the run-up to Thanksgiving (today), and then after Thanksgiving, on average there have been more rises than falls.”
The FTSE has surged 55 per cent since hitting a low in March, and gains so far in November have put the index on track to post its best monthly performance since August.
Pharmaceuticals, seen as resistant to a weak economy, were higher. AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Shire added 1.4 to 2.5 per cent.
As crude prices gained by more than 1 per cent, energy stocks found favour. BP and BG Group put on 0.5 and 1.3 per cent, respectively.
Royal Dutch Shell climbed 0.4 per cent. Its chief executive forecast that the oil giant will not need to borrow any more money if oil remains at about $80 a barrel.
Compass, the world’s top caterer, showed its recession-proof credentials, posting a 33 per cent profit rise which topped market expectations and propelled its shares to a seven-year high, up 6.1 per cent.
International Power gained 2.5 per cent, with traders citing renewed speculation of M&A activity after the Daily Mail said GDF Suez was a possible bidder for the British power generation firm.
On the downside, hedge fund Man Group shed 4.9 per cent, the biggest faller on the index, in a further reaction to Tuesday’s rating downgrade by Credit Suisse and with the stock trading ex-dividend yesterday.
Ex-dividend factors knocked 1.01 points off the blue chip index.
Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey was another significant faller, off 3.9 per cent after posting a 21 per cent drop in first-half pretax profit due to lower precious metal prices and a slowdown in automobile sales.
London Stock Exchange was on the back foot after it posted results, falling 3.8 per cent