International Power Setback Fails to Dent FTSE

Rumours of a takeover bid for International Power by French utility company GDF Suez came to nothing on Monday afternoon leaving International Power languishing. The independent power generation closed down 11p or 3.42% at 311p but, in the absence of U.S. influence on Martin Luther King Day, the market as a whole closed up 39.02 points or 0.7% at 5,494.39.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Monday, January 18, 2010

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International Power admitted that although merger talks had taken place with GDF Suez, they would not be proceeding. There was plenty of encouragement elsewhere, however, with Cadbury closing up 14p or 1.76% at 807.50p on speculation that Kraft may increase its hostile takeover bid and strength in the mining, banking and retail sectors.

Anglo American up 86.50p or 3.18% to 2,809p, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) up 38.5p or 3.88% to 1,030p, Xstrata up 28p or 2.36% to 1,216.5p and Kazakhyms up 35p or 2.48% to 1,445p, were all in the top ten on the gainers' list as metal prices climbed.

It was a not dissimilar story for retailers with Home Retail Group up 6.70p or 2.57% to 267.80p, Marks & Spencer up 11p or 3.15% to 360.60p and Next up 19p or 0.97% to 1,980p, all finding support after the revelation that December retail sales in London were as good as they have been since 2003.

Concerns over disappointing results from JP Morgan Chase & Co. in the U.S. proved short-lived, with Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Standard Chartered all ahead by between 0.6% and 3.2%. The only loser in the sector was HSBC, down 5%.

 

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