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LONDON (SHARECAST) - - G8 summit fails to lift sentiment as euro worries persist
- Chinese stimulus speculation does the rounds
- Man Group surges early on
Despite an underwhelming G8 summit at the weekend, London's blue chip index opening slightly higher on Monday morning after slumping to its lowest levels since mid-November 2011 on Friday.
As expected, the Group of Eight (G8) world leaders this weekend spent a great deal of time focusing on efforts to promote global economic growth and particularly on the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis while showing their support for Greece remaining in the single currency.
“We agree on the importance of a strong and cohesive Eurozone for global stability and recovery, and we affirm our interest in Greece remaining in the Eurozone while respecting its commitments. We all have an interest in the success of specific measures to strengthen the resilience of the Eurozone and growth in Europe,” the joint communiqué said.
"The news sounds great for the Eurozone but it's not the first time one of these meetings has generated positive news only for nothing to materialise so I don't expect to see much of a reaction in the markets," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the summit that Greece is voting whether to stay part of, or exit, the single currency - "the Eurozone has to put in place the most robust contingency plans for both eventualities," he said.
Meanwhile, there were rumours that China could act to counter a slowdown after Premier Wen Jiabao called for "putting stabilising growth in a more important position". According to the Chinese Securities Journal, the world's second-largest economy could announce stimulus measures in the near term.
FTSE 100: Man up after FRM acquisition
Hedge fund manager Man Group jumped early on saying it is set to pay up to $142.8m for FRM Holdings, a global hedge fund research and investment specialist. Man and FRM's combined multi-manager business will have total funds under management of approximately $19bn, making it the largest independent non-US based fund of hedge funds.
Global banking group HSBC rose after completing the sale of 195 US retail branches to First Niagara Bank for $0.9bn, first announced in July last year. Sector peers RBS and Barclays were also in demand.
Real estate investment trust British Land fell despite revealing profits ahead of expectations and net asset value (NAV) growth in the 12 months to the end of March. Underlying profits before tax rose 5.1% while NAV grew 4.9%.
Mining stocks were mixed early on with Vedanta Resources and Evraz making gains, and Polymetal and Randgold among the worst performers.
FTSE 250: Informa drops after IMS
Newsletter publisher and exhibitions organiser Informa fell after sticking with its full-year guidelines despite admitting that renewal and new subscriber cycles are taking longer than they used to.
Exhibitions and conferences firm ITE Group saw revenue and profits grow significantly in the first half, boosted by a number of new acquisitions, helping shares higher.
Healthcare group BTG returned to the black and posted a 77% increase in full-year revenue after higher-than-expected royalties at its licensing and biotechnology businesses.
UK food supplier Cranswick was in demand after seeing sales and profits beat expectations in the year ended March 31st, as it announced that its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) would be stepping down in the summer.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Man Group (EMG) 79.50p +5.58%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 988.00p +3.08%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.50p +2.55%
GKN (GKN) 186.50p +2.19%
IMI (IMI) 874.00p +1.81%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 465.00p +1.55%
Evraz (EVR) 321.40p +1.48%
Rexam (REX) 404.60p +1.40%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,354.00p +1.35%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,046.00p +1.34%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Polymetal International (POLY) 789.00p -1.25%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 710.00p -1.05%
British Land Co (BLND) 485.30p -0.70%
Tesco (TSCO) 311.75p -0.62%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,869.00p -0.51%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 270.20p -0.37%
Sage Group (SGE) 248.40p -0.36%
Centrica (CNA) 313.90p -0.35%
Diageo (DGE) 1,490.50p -0.33%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,408.00p -0.33%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 121.20p +5.30%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 150.20p +3.51%
Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 252.00p +3.36%
Henderson Group (HGG) 95.70p +3.07%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 137.60p +2.69%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 401.70p +2.58%
Rank Group (RNK) 124.90p +2.38%
Afren (AFR) 111.40p +2.20%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 156.00p +2.09%
Cape (CIU) 328.10p +1.86%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Lamprell (LAM) 114.80p -5.12%
Informa (INF) 370.30p -3.54%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,770.00p -2.98%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 497.00p -2.36%
UBM (UBM) 519.50p -1.52%
Bumi (BUMI) 380.80p -1.47%
SVG Capital (SVI) 262.60p -1.39%
easyJet (EZJ) 481.10p -1.35%
Carpetright (CPR) 609.50p -1.30%
BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.55 -1.28%
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