FTSE Back in the Blue

The FTSE 100 index resumed winning ways on Friday morning, climbing 27.7 points to 5,554.9 – close to its high point for the year – during early trading. Optimism ahead of US non-farm payrolls data, due at 13.30 GMT lifted stocks on Wall Street and throughout Asia and this was reflected on the London Stock Exchange.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Friday, March 05, 2010

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Global asset management company Schroders, which closed up nearly 6% at 1,310p on Thursday after posting pre-tax profits of just over £200 million – down from £290.5 million in 2008, but ahead of market expectations of £180 million on average – supplemented its gains, adding a further 68p or 5.19% to 1,378p. Elsewhere in the financial sector, Standard Chartered, up 70p or 4.12%, to 1,770.5p, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), up 0.94p or 2.39% to 40.3p and Barclays, up 7.15p or 2.15% to 340.25p were also going well.

There was strength in the mining sector too. Xstrata, for example, was up 40.5p or 3.6% to 1,165p after Swiss commodity trader Glencore International AG confirmed that it will exercise its option to buy back a Colombian coal unit, Prodeco, at a cost of £2.25 billion, plus profits accrued and investment made by Xstrata since January 2009.

WPP, one of the largest communications services groups in the world, reported a 16% fall (24% at a constant exchange rate) in pre-tax profits to just over £812 million in 2009 which it described as a "brutal year". The economic downturn was to blame the company said but there were encouraging signs so far this year, with staff being hired rather than fired and it expected the improvement in stability to continue throughout 2010. Its share price, nevertheless, was down 4p or 0.64% to 620p.

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