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FTSE 100 5,835.25 +0.51%
FTSE 250 11,921.27 +0.55%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - - Portugal, Greece and Spain in the spotlight
- Markets await economic data from UK and Eurozone
- Rio Tinto and Anglo American gain
London's FTSE 100 index registered a strong start on Tuesday morning as investors celebrated signs of progress in the Eurozone.
Markets finished with just slight gains on Monday despite some better-than-expected US retail sales data and decent third-quarter figures from banking giant Citigroup.
Market analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari said this morning: "This just shows that the Eurozone is still at the forefront of everyone's minds this week. The EU summit on Thursday and Friday is all investors seem to care about at the moment. It is not often that we see such positive retail sales data and corporate earnings completely ignored."
Portugal has been hit by protests after it revealed its 2013 budget yesterday which includes tax rises and spending cuts and is likely to see the country fall into its third year of recession.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in Athens last night that he is confidence that Greece will receive its next tranche of the bailout.
The Spanish government is preparing to make a request for aid, according to an article in the Financial Times last night, but is being held back by considerations relating to Germany and Italy. Bloomberg, however, is reporting that Spain's Prime Minister believes that holding out for longer will win the country better terms. What might be construed as similar reports out yesterday, from Dow Jones Newswires, may have weighed on Spanish bonds.
Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's has cut its long-term credit ratings for 11 Spanish banks and short-term ratings on four, as is often to be expected after having done the same with the underlying sovereign previously.
Markets will be keeping an eye out for a short-term Spanish debt auction scheduled for later this morning, the first issuance since Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the country's debt rating last week to just one notch above 'junk status'.
Economic data from home and away is due out today. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics releases September inflation data at 09:30 (consensus estimate: 2.2% year-on-year, last: 2.5% year-on-year). The September producer price indices will also be released at 09:30 (consensus estimate: 0.2% month-on-month, last: 2.0% month-on-month). Inflation figures and economic sentiment surveys are also due out in the Eurozone.
FTSE 100: Rio and Anglo provide a lift early on
Diversified mining group Rio Tinto rose after hailing a strong set of production results in the third quarter, with iron ore, copper, bauxite, alumina, and titanium dioxide output up year-on-year.
Sector peer Anglo American gained after saying that the illegal occupation of the Sishen Mine - owned by its subsidiary Kumbia Iron Ore - has been brought to an end by police. The company said it could get back to business as soon as possible.
Airline group IAG was a heavy faller after Liberum Capital downgraded its recommendation for the shares to 'sell'.
Global engineering firm GKN fell after warning that macroeconomic conditions have deteriorated in recent weeks and it was seeing evidence of softening in order books.
Telecoms titan BT Group was in demand after Nomura reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock, saying it prefers it to Vodafone on "structural growth drivers and dividend outlook".
FTSE 250: Bellway and N Brown surge after results
UK housebuilder Bellway was a high riser after delivering a solid increase in full-year pre-tax profit, helped by a strong performance in London, and said reservations since July 31st have remained in line with expectations.
Internet and catalogue home shopping firm N Brown wasn't far behind after reporting that sale and profits ahead of expectations in the first half, with like-for-like (LFL) sales growth accelerating in the second quarter.
Mining group Bumi fell after financier Nathaniel Rothschild resigned from the board, saying he had lost confidence in the management's ability to stand up for investors.
Gold miner Petropavlovsk rose after saying it was on track to achieve its full-year production target of at least 700,000oz.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 41.20p +2.17%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 703.50p +1.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,277.00p +1.59%
Evraz (EVR) 232.60p +1.48%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 586.00p +1.47%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,087.00p +1.40%
Aviva (AV.) 334.90p +1.33%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,640.00p +1.33%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,632.00p +1.30%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 271.50p +1.27%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 154.80p -2.03%
GKN (GKN) 208.60p -1.56%
Serco Group (SRP) 572.50p -0.69%
Pennon Group (PNN) 719.00p -0.35%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 723.00p -0.34%
Meggitt (MGGT) 401.80p -0.17%
IMI (IMI) 901.50p -0.17%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,435.00p -0.14%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,368.00p -0.08%
Tesco (TSCO) 309.80p -0.06%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 290.80p +7.82%
Bellway (BWY) 1,010.00p +6.32%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 445.40p +4.36%
Perform Group (PER) 416.50p +4.12%
Bodycote (BOY) 357.70p +3.65%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 460.00p +3.60%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 230.10p +3.18%
Pace (PIC) 171.70p +2.94%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 512.50p +2.71%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 770.00p +2.60%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 585.50p -2.34%
F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 95.15p -1.86%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,777.42p -1.68%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,278.00p -0.93%
Informa (INF) 397.10p -0.77%
Regus (RGU) 104.20p -0.76%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 769.50p -0.71%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,023.00p -0.69%
Dignity (DTY) 930.00p -0.64%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 344.50p -0.63%
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