| CATEGORY: MARKET REPORT - CLOSE SECTOR: OIL & GAS PRODUCERS |
London close: BP and miners drag Footsie under |
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Fri 28 May 2010
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Market Movers
techMARK 1,572.38 +0.84%
FTSE 100 5,188.43 -0.13%
FTSE 250 9,637.14 -0.10%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Though risers outnumbered fallers by more than two to one among FTSE 100 constituents the blue-chip index ended the day in the red, thanks to weakness of heavily weighted stocks such as BP and the miners.
BP was the major blot on the landscape. It says it won’t know if the ‘top kill’ procedure to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has worked for another 24 to 48 hours, but in the meantime the costs keep rising, up to $930m (£639m) so far. The oil company started the top kill option, which involves pumping massive amounts of mud and cement into the well at high pressure, on Wednesday night.
Elsewhere in the sector Royal Dutch Shell has joined the rush to snap up US shale gas assets with the $4.7bn purchase of East Resources. Pennsylvania-based East's primary activity is focused on the Marcellus shale, in the north-east of the US.
With metals prices heading south mining stocks did likewise with Lonmin and BHP Billiton the two biggest losers.
Fresnillo was a bright spot in the sector however. Its chairman Alberto Baillères is confident of a successful year for the Mexican silver and gold miner after a strong start to the year, underpinned by higher than expected precious metal prices.
The best performing Footsie stock was water group Severn Trent. The company lifted its full year dividend by 7.4% after an uplift in revenues and cost-cutting measures brought about a sharp rise in profits in the year to March 31. Underlying pre-tax profits rose to £338.4m from £273.5m the previous year, on revenues that climbed to £1.704bn from £1.642bn.
Life group Prudential this morning confirmed it has had talks over the terms of the purchase of AIG's Asian arm (AIA). Reports overnight said Tidjane Thiam, Pru's chief executive, was in the US trying to get the price of buying AIA deal reduced from $35.5bn to $30bn to head off a shareholder revolt that could scupper the deal completely.
Plumbers merchant BSS Group was sharply higher after it revealed it is in bid talks with fellow building materials merchant Travis Perkins. The two parties are discussing an indicative offer made up of 232.91p in cash, 0.2608 new Travis Perkins shares per BSS share and the payment of BSS's final dividend for the year to 31 March 2010 of 6.09p a share. The terms value BSS at about £553m.
Distributor Electrocomponents staged a strong recovery in the second half that it says has continued into the current year so far. But underlying profits increased by 11% in the second half of the year while sales continued to pick up throughout the period and were 15% higher in the fourth quarter than the comparable period.
Internet gambling group 888 has warned that full-year profit is likely to be significantly lower than previous market expectations due to ongoing weakness at the online poker business and the strong dollar. Sector peer Partygaming folds in sympathy.
Beer flow monitoring system firm Brulines has decided against launching a bid for Universe Group, eight months after it first approached the electronic payment and loyalty card provider.
Another prospective takeover biting the dust was the proposed bid for Forth Ports from the Northstream consortium. Forth Ports had rejected a 1400p per share offer and the consortium felt unable to increase its offer and so decided not to continue with its pursuit of Forth.
The port operator last month rejected an improved takeover offer worth about £640m, or 1,400p a share in cash, received yesterday.
Solar power technology group Jetion Solar Holdings plunged after warning that the weak euro will cause a drop in first half profits. Business has been “satisfactory” during the first quarter, but margins have suffered as most of its sales are into Europe, the world's largest solar market.
Quantity surveyor Baqus was another bearer of bad news. It has warned that results for the year ending 30 June 2010 will be below expectations due to extended lead-times on projects in the construction industry. “This slow-down has been increasingly pronounced since the result of the General Election and the continued lack of bank lending for construction schemes,” the group said.
Gulf of Mexico-focused Leed Petroleum has recompleted the A-7 well in the Eugene Island 183 Field to a shallower horizon and is currently producing at a gross rate of 802 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Shares in Shieldtech, which supplies body armour, goggles and other protective equipment, took a knock after it said an upturn following delays in orders from the UK police is now not expected until the first quarter of the next financial year.
Germ killing technology company Byotrol pulled out of its recent share price slump after it revealed it has received a £0.44m three year research grant from the North West Development Agency to assist in funding the development of an innovative bio-medical product.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,198.00p +3.36%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 539.50p +2.86%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,385.00p +2.67%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 353.70p +2.55%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,264.00p +2.43%
Fresnillo (FRES) 904.00p +2.38%
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,421.00p +2.08%
Experian Group (EXPN) 618.50p +2.06%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 252.00p +1.98%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,126.00p +1.90%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BP (BP.) 494.80p -4.99%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,637.00p -2.68%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,684.00p -2.32%
Man Group (EMG) 232.80p -2.31%
British Airways (BAY) 201.20p -1.37%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,913.00p -1.32%
Barclays (BARC) 305.10p -1.23%
Schroders (SDR) 1,329.00p -1.12%
Prudential (PRU) 541.50p -1.10%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,533.00p -1.10%
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| BP. - BP |
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| Latest Prices |
| Name |
Price |
% |
| BP |
407.50p |
+0.25% |
| 888 Holdings |
40.25p |
+4.55% |
| Baqus |
2.00p |
0.00% |
| Byotrol |
19.00p |
+4.11% |
| Brulines |
120.50p |
0.00% |
| Electrocomponents |
219.10p |
-1.31% |
| Forth Ports |
1,321.00p |
-0.83% |
| Fresnillo |
1,087.00p |
-1.54% |
| Jetion Solar Holdings |
51.00p |
-1.92% |
| Kingfisher |
212.50p |
-2.48% |
| Leed Petroleum |
3.10p |
+8.77% |
| Prudential |
584.00p |
-0.68% |
| Royal Dutch Shell 'B' |
1,741.00p |
-1.14% |
| Shieldtech |
3.12p |
-4.00% |
| Severn Trent |
1,364.00p |
+2.33% |
| Travis Perkins |
798.50p |
-0.50% |
| Universe Group |
3.00p |
0.00% |
| |
| FTSE 100 |
5,394 |
-0.83% |
| FTSE 250 |
10,165 |
-0.74% |
| FTSE 350 |
2,846 |
-0.81% |
| FTSE AIM All-Share |
714 |
-0.06% |
| FTSE All-Share |
2,784 |
-0.81% |
| FTSE Small Cap |
2,848 |
-0.56% |
| FTSEurofirst 300 |
1,059 |
-0.68% |
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