Aviva Leads FTSE 100 Higher

Aviva, the largest insurance group in the UK and the fifth largest in the world, was one of the best performers in the FTSE 100, up 18.5p or 5.37% at 363p.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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The company recently posted life and pensions sales of £7.94 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009, a fall of 14% compared with the same period the previous year but an increase of 21% on the third quarter. Aviva also strengthened its capital position, increasing its surplus capital to £4.5 million from £2 billion at the end of 2008. The company said that the worst of the downturn in quarterly sales is probably over, although, on a slightly different note, it did also reveal that insurance claims for flood and storm damage in Cumbria, in the north of England and in Ireland amounted to £100 million in the third quarter of 2009.

Generally speaking, financial stocks were strong after concerns over the debt crisis receded and Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, reassured investors that the UK is unlikely to lose its triple A rating. There was speculation that eurozone countries would produce a plan to help Greece to avoid a possible sovereign default – that is, the possibility of being unable to afford to repay bonds issued in foreign currencies – and, overall, the FTSE 100 index was up 56.3 points at 5,168.10 at midday on Tuesday. The largest bank in Europe, HSBC, rose 2.1% and was joined in positive territory by Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered, who were all ahead by 2.8% and upwards.

 

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