- Compass Group 887.00 0.00
- Croda Intl. 2,529.00 0.00
- Eurasian 254.80 0.00
- Hsbc Hldgs.uk 726.00 0.00
- Next 4,580.00 0.00
- Woburn Energy 1.50 0.00
- Xtract 0.13 0.00
FTSE just marginally higher as GDP news dampens spirits
Wednesday, 25th April 2012
END-OF-DAY REPORT: Headline shares ended the day marginally higher, with the news that the UK was back in recession dampening enthusiasm and ex-dividend factors helping offset gains in heavyweight mining stocks. At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up just 9.4 points at 5,718.89 with the FTSE250 ahead 62.22 points at 11,334.45 and the FTSE Smallcaps 16.04 points better at 3,099.93.
NEW YORK
US stocks made firm gains in late morning trade with sentiment buoyed by the exceptional results from Apple yesterday.
Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81 points at 13,083, the S&P500 gained 15 points at 1,387 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 58 points at 3,020.
LONDON MARKETS
Spirits in London were dampened on news the UK has dipped back into recession with this morning's GDP figure showing a 0.2% retraction last month.
Banking issues were mixed, with Royal Bank of Scotland edging down 0.08p at 23.22p, Lloyds up 0.14p at 30.5p and Barclays flat at 211p, while HSBC edged up 0.8p at 554.3p after unconfirmed reports it is mulling up to 2,000 UK job cuts as part of its global cost cutting exercise.
Standard Life was among the best of the insurers, rising 1.1p at 225.1p after reporting a better-than-expected rise in assets under administration to £206.8bn in the first-quarter to end-March.
Elsewhere, Prudential added 15p at 752.5p and Aviva rose 6.4p at 318p, while Legal & General improved 1p at 118.6p.
Yesterday's rally in hedge fund manager Man Group petered out, the shares edging down 1.8p at 95.2p.
The miners were higher, with Vedanta Resources topping the leaderboard, up 50p at 1,225p. Rio Tinto climbed 65p at 3,480p and Anglo American added 52p at 2,360p.
However, Russian gold miner Polymetal International slipped 11p at 939p, despite reporting a jump in earnings in the year to December 2011.
Chip designer ARM Holdings made progress, rallying 6p at 537.5p, helped by upgrades from Jefferies International and Barclays Capital and news of soaring sales of Apple iPads.
Mall owner Capital Shopping Centres Group edged up a penny at 326.3p after reporting a fall in occupancy levels and footfall in the year to date.
Other notable gainers included engineer IMI, up 29.5p at 1,009p, explorer Tullow Oil, ahead 29p at 1,511p, and outsourcing firm Invensys, 5.1p higher at 196.5p.
On the downside, pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline fell 44p at 1,413.5p, despite solid Q1 results, on concerns government austerity measures will impact future sales.
Ex-dividend factors accounted for many of the fallers, with British Gas owner Centrica down 12.3p at 310.2p, supermarket giant Tesco off 8.45p at 317p, and educational publisher Reed Elsevier, 13.5p lower at 512.5p.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
Stock Market Update
Friday, 24th May 2013
END-OF-DAY REPORT: The headline index ended the day firmly lower, with activity light ahead of ...
Share News
Friday, 24th May 2013
HSBA HSBC HOLDINGS PLC ORD $0.50 (UK REG) value of shares traded £158,856,866 VOD VODAFONE GROUP PLC ORD ...
Friday, 24th May 2013
Sprue Aegis's independent directors have welcomed the lapsing of BRK's offer which received ...
Friday, 24th May 2013
Caza Oil & Gas's (LON:CAZA) shares soared after it agreed a $50m financing with Apollo ...
Friday, 24th May 2013
Updates from Amur Minerals, Arian Silver and Churchill Mining failed to impress the market and ...
SharePrice.com will do their best to ensure the quality of the information displayed on this site, but all information is provided as-is. We cannot be held responsible for any loss, material or otherwise, due to incorrect information found here. All share prices are provided by the London Stock Exchange, and are at least 15 minutes delayed.