Marks Sparks FTSE 100 Recovery

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Share prices in Britain's largest clothing retailer were up 11p, at 317p, despite a 1.4% drop in like-for-like sales in the first quarter. Marks and Spencer has, of course, been battling the worst recession for decades, the cause of falling sales and poor results across the retail sector, but its own results were far better than the 2.5% fall forecast by analysts.

In fact, the majority of FTSE 100 companies were in positive territory, and, by mid-session, the blue chip index, overall, was up 62.45, or 1.4%, at 4,311.66, after recovering from a late lapse on Tuesday, when it closed down 44.82 points, or 1%, at 4,249.21.

Hopes of economic recovery, globally, lifted resource stocks, and Vedanta Resources was one of the best performers in the mining sector, up 105p, or 8%, at 1393p. Xsrata, up 30.7p, at 688p, was also going well, however, along with the likes of BHP Billiton, ENRC and Kazakhyms. Elsewhere, silver and gold miner Hochschild was sharply higher, up 30.50p, or 11%, at 308p, after its increased its stake in Gold Resource Corporation to 24%. The price of crude oil rose nearly 2%, to above $71 a barrel, and heavyweight energy stocks, such as BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Tullow Oil followed suit, adding between 1.2% and 3.1%.