Positive outlook by US bank boosts UK stocks, especially banks

Breaking the 5,000 mark the FTSE 100 index closed up by 1 per cent, gaining 49.82 points to finish at 5,014.82. A number of stocks posted gains of over 2 per cent with BP, J Sainsbury and banks in the lead.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Wednesday, July 07, 2010

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BP

US custody bank State Street released a statement this afternoon expressing a positive outlook, the US bank gained nearly 10 per cent in early trading on the NYSE. The statement from State Street sent UK banking stocks rallying in late trading. Barclays closed up by 6.19 per cent to 291.60p; Royal Bank of Scotland Group gained 4.69 per cent to reach 42.83p and Lloyds Banking Group gained 2.16 per cent to close at 58.19p.

BP and J Sainsbury both posted solid gains on talks of investment interest shown by sovereign wealth funds. J Sainsbury moved up by 4.91 per cent to close at 344.30p, BP continued its recent recovery by moving up 4.79 per cent to close at 362.05p.

Mid-cap stocks also achieved moderate gains, with the FTSE 250 index reaching 9,562.68, 0.68 per cent higher than yesterday's close. JKX Oil & Gas closed up by 7.02 per cent to reach 262.20p; Wellstream Holdings moved up by 5.46 per cent to 483.10p and Imagination Technologies reached 291.90p, up 5.38 per cent from yesterday's close.

The US earnings season is starting over the next few days and will determine to some extent whether UK stocks will continue climbing. Investors remain concerned about the global economy and for now there is no news to suggest otherwise.

 

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