Fresnillo Results Ahead of Market Expectations

Base metal miners, such as Vedanta Resources and Lonmin, may have suffered a reversal of fortune on Monday morning, but that did not stop the FTSE 100 index from acquiring some momentum. By midday, the leading share index was up 44 points or 0.8% to 5,450.44.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Tuesday, March 02, 2010

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Vedanta Resources, whose principal operations are in India, Zambia and Australia, was down 4% to 2,535p after launching a convertible bond issue worth $775 million. It was a different story altogether for Fresnillo, the largest primary silver producer in the world, which reported a leap of over 150% in annual net income to £22 million (£261.1 million) thanks to higher metal prices and record production in 2009; its share price rose 2.4% to 801p and was mirrored by that of gold miner Randgold, which rose 1.7% to 82p in sympathy.

Financial stocks were the main driving force behind the FTSE 100, although insurance group Prudential – down a further 6.3% to 496.3p, after losing over 12% on Monday – continued to suffer over its $35.5 billion deal to buy AIG's business in Asia.

Amongst banks, Standard Chartered, which is due to publish results on Wednesday, led the way, rising 3.05% to 1,5762p, but there was strength throughout the sector; part nationalised lenders Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group both rose by 2.07% to 37.45p and 51.30p respectively, whilst HSBC, which suffered after mildly disappointing results on Monday, also recovered to post gains of 2.48% to 689.90p.

 

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