FTSE back to 18 month high at 5,599.76
Today the FTSE 100 reached levels close to its highest point since before the Lehman Brothers collapse. Gaining 4.6% this week and more than 50% for the past twelve months, the FTSE closed up 72.60 or 1.3% by end of trading. Commodity stocks and investor support for banking groups as well better than expected US employment figures set the scene for a positive session.
Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Friday, March 05, 2010
A collection of blue chip stocks showed gains for the day in response to positive results and press reports inviting investor interest. The fund manager Schroders showed the biggest gains for the day as it maintained yesterday's upward drive. Schroders closed up 6.56% to finish at 1,396.00p.
Banks and life insurers also performed extremely well. Barclays, RBS, Standard Chartered and HSBC all closed higher at between 2 and 3 percent. Standard Chartered rose as it reported bumper results. Also gaining was insurer Prudential as it announced a $21 billion rights issue to pay for its acquisition of AIG Asia. Aviva and Standard Life also posted gains.
Mining companies surfaced as stellar performers again as BHP Billiton, Fresnillo, Vendanta Resources and Xstrata gained 3.8 to 5.5%. Xstrata gained as the Swiss company Glencore announced the buyback of the Predict operation from the anglo-swiss miner.
WPP and United Business Media gained 3.45% and 6.6% respectively as investors responded to good profit figures. Even though WPP was hit hard by the recession headline profit softened less than expected. UBM was ahead of expectations as shares reached the top of FTSE 250 risers on positive comments.
On the downside, a number of defensive stocks slipped including GlaxoSmithKline, dropping 0.5% after UBS cut its price target, Centrica and United Utilities fell by 0.6 and 1.6 percent while Petrofac continued lower to reach -1.3%.
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